16

04.10

2:18

Treat the poor or lose tax-exempt status, landmark case states

In a March ruling that could hold implications for all nonprofit hospitals, the Illinois Supreme Court stripped not-for-profit Provena Covenant Medical Center of its exemption from property tax, stating that the hospital did not provide enough charity care to justify that exemption.


A hospital earns its tax-exempt status through the benefits it provides to the community, the most of which being the free or reduced-cost care for those eligible for such assistance. Such care is deemed indigent or charity care.


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Posted by Author Name in Access/ Affordability / 1 Comment

02

12.09

4:17

Changes are needed inside the state to help Georgians afford needed care

By Holly Lang


Each day, the crisis of affordable care grows for uninsured and underinsured Georgians.


An estimated one-third of all insured Georgians went without adequate health care coverage in 2007, a number that continues to grow each year. Increasingly so, many plans do not pay for preventative care, such as physicals and Pap smears, which are so important when it comes to health.


And for uninsured, the numbers are even worse.

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Posted by Author Name in Advocacy/ Affordability / No Comments.

22

10.09

9:49

Hospital Accountability

By Holly Lang

In January 2009, Georgia Watch was awarded a two-year grant to help expand access to affordable health care to uninsured and underinsured consumers in the metro area. Called the Metropolitan Atlanta Hospital Accountability Project, or HAP, we’ll examine the challenges low-income, uninsured and underinsured patients face in the metro Atlanta area by surveying consumers, by analyzing the financial aid policies at area for profit and nonprofit hospitals, and by looking at current public policies that force hospitals to give free or low-cost care to the state’s uninsured and underinsured consumers. We’ll come up with ways to make those policies better.


Georgia has the sixth-highest number of residents without health insurance in the US and ranks 11th in its percentage of the population lacking coverage, according to a 2008 report from the Georgia State University’s Health Policy Center and the Center for Health Services Research. According to the report, only one in five individuals living below poverty have private insurance and nearly 38 percent are uninsured.


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Posted by Author Name in Access/ Affordability / No Comments.

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More than 1.6 million Georgians are uninsured.Source: Georgia Health Policy Center
Health insurance premiums grew 6.4x faster than earnings over the past decade.Source: Families USA
Georgia’s infant mortality rate is among the worst in the nation.Source: KidsCount
Georgia ranks in the bottom quartile of states on overall quality.Source: New American Foundation
More than 1 million Georgians don't see a doctor due to the cost.Source: BRFSS data
Millions of Georgians are at least two hours away from trauma care.Source: GA Statewide Trauma Action Team

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