News to March 10

According to the article “Edward: Charity Bill Would Cripple Hospitals” in the Naperville Sun (http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/sunpub/naper/news/n16charity.htm), “Edward Hospital officials believe if a state plan to expand charity care services is approved by Illinois lawmakers the hospital could face a deficit as high as $7 million.” Lisa Madigan is spearheading the state plan, which “mandates that all hospitals' total charity care equal at least 8 percent of a provider's operating costs.” The plan, therefore, would raise the amount of money hospitals must use for charity care, but would therefore lower the amount hospitals could put toward development, upgrades, equipment, etc. Brian Davis, the vice president of Edward Hospital, points out that most hospitals already spend a good deal of money on charity care and that they provide benefits to the community, sometimes at a monetary loss to the hospital. Davis reported that Edwards hospital spent about $3.4 million on charity care last year and quoted a figure of $22.5 million that would have been spent had Madigan’s bill been in effect.
The difference between those numbers shows that Madigan’s bill has the potential to help a great deal more people who cannot afford health care. However, the difference also shows the staggering amount that could now not be used for maintenance and equipment upgrades for the hospital. Although it seems on the surface that Madigan is acting as a “do-gooder,” the reality of the situation according to the information provided by Edwards Hospital is that this bill could hurt more people than it helps. If people hear about this wide scale, It could hurt Madigan’s campaign as this is an example of something she has apparently investigated all aspects of (that or she just doesn’t care about the repercussions of the bill). However presumably any negative effects of the bill won’t be apparent until after her campaign so perhaps it won’t be a problem for her as she seeks re-election.