when hospitals were “not for profit”

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Here's the facts. 62% of hospitals in the US are non-profit. 20% are government and the remainder - 18% - are for profit. What's the problem again?

Abuse of the system—surely even a Republican doesn’t like being taken advantage of...

Whether it is by Medicare/Medicaid/ANY providers that pad their bills and overcharge the government or the insurance company or the patient
Whether it is by hospitals that are not transparent in their billing charges
Whether it is doctors who wander down hospital wings, do into random rooms, review a chart, make a notation, and charge that patient for “services” w/o having any reason except a paycheck to do so
Don’t scoff—it happens....a lot more than hospitals or insurance companies want to admit...

[AnesthesiaMD]

Originally Posted by tinytrump

Hmm - hospitals are not McDonalds. Nobody goes there unless very ill or in pain or delivering a child. Funny to you and worked where?

That’s the way it should be, but there are many people in poor areas that use the ER as their primary care doctor. They come in for a cold, the flu, gonorrhea, and other things that most people go to their primary care doctor for.

To the poster you were responding to, all hospitals use translation services for all foreign languages, so that wouldn’t work very well.

[AnesthesiaMD]

Originally Posted by middle-aged mom

This is true for the entire US.

Most hospitals are Not for Profit which does not mean they can’t profit.

Technically, if a business puts money back into the business, it is not considered profit. At least not by the IRS, because business expenses are tax deductible.

But yes, you are right.

It’s amazing the money that is being made by for profit hospitals. That other hospital I used to occasionally work in, was not for profit. When they sold to the for profit company, they sold it for $30M. Only 3 years later, that company sold to another for profit company for $190M. The CEO of the first company got a $25M bonus from the sale, which is almost as much as they bought the hospital for in the first place.

[rstevens62]

I was once told by a bankruptcy attorney, in regards to hospital or medical bills, as long as you pay them something on a monthly basis, they cannot take legal action against you, even if that amount is $5. per month.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

Remember when hospitals were “not for profit” and instead became a money making machine for stockholders?

Hospitals are non-profits.

There are a handful of the 5,000 or so hospitals that are for-profit.

Non-profit hospitals fall in two categories: private non-profit and government non-profit.

Where ever you're getting your info, it's all wrong.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by rstevens62

I was once told by a bankruptcy attorney, in regards to hospital or medical bills, as long as you pay them something on a monthly basis, they cannot take legal action against you, even if that amount is $5. per month.

That's incorrect, and totally wrong if you live in Ohio.

The majority of hospitals in Ohio are private non-profit. The next largest group is government hospitals. I believe there are (or were) two for-profit hospitals in Ohio, but those were specialty hospitals.

Generally, you cannot discharge a debt owed to any government agency.

All States except Louisiana have adopted Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and many States including Ohio have adopted Article 4 (Louisiana operates under Napoleonic Law not English Common Law).

Article 2 governs the sale of goods. Basically, if it doesn't have a quantity, color or you can't touch it, it's not a good as defined in the UCC. The statute of limitations is four years. So, if you buy a car and it gets repossessed, they got 4 years to sue to you recover the money.

Article 4 covers leases/rentals and the statute of limitations is also 4 years. So, if you Welsh on an auto lease or apartment lease, they got 4 years to sue you.

Services, like your cable or cell-phone and medical/dental are generally considered contracts and the statute of limitations is 8 years (used to be 15 years).

So, for a medical debt, it's history after 8 years, unless the debt was incurred at a government hospital like University of Cincinnati Hospital or Ohio State University Hospital or one of the city or county run hospitals.