[Community]
Within 4 Years, 4 Nonprofit Hospitals in NJ pocketed a Fortune of $1.7 Billion in Profits (tax-free)
by Lynn Petrovich
Posted December 21, 2016
In the early morning hours of May 24, 2011, I found myself at the emergency room of our local nonprofit hospital, Monmouth Medical Center, in Long Branch, New Jersey. My husband drove me there after a fall I took in our back yard the night before. Sitting uneasily in a wheelchair with my right leg swollen to about three times its normal size, I politely tried to answer the ER administrator’s 20 to 30 questions (which had nothing to do with my injury) – a mandate provided by the well compensated hospital executives – before I was allowed treatment for my injury. Here’s a sample:
“Who is your employer?”
“Is this your current employer?”
“What is their address?”
“Do you have insurance?”
“Can you provide proof of insurance?”
“Do you know how much your deductible is?”
“How will you pay for your deductible?”
“We do take credit cards, you know”
“What card will you be using for this visit?”
“Do you have the card with you?”
In pain and frustrated beyond belief, I barked at the gatekeeper blocking me from the care I needed by insisting I was “good” for the bill. Could I see a doctor now? For those foreign to our unique system, citizens of this country are busy learning American Health Care 101: Profit before patient care. More…
