Minnesota lawmakers are wrestling with how to sustain the state’s financially distressed hospitals while patients confront growing medical debt. One Minnesota lawmaker wants to steer money from an existing healthcare tax back to hospitals so they can expand their charity care programs for patients who can’t afford their bills. The proposal follows a Minnesota Star Tribune-KFF Health News investigation that found hospitals across the state spend far less on charity care than hospitals in many other states, and use widely different standards to decide who qualifies for free or discounted care. State Rep. Steve Elkins said helping hospitals with their own tax contributions makes sense as more Minnesotans are losing health insurance. “Hospitals are providing a fair amount of charity care, but they kind of have an obligation to do something more than they are doing,” said Elkins, who introduced legislation May 13, in the final days of the legislative session. Elkins noted recent reports by the Lown Institute and Minnesota’s legislative auditor indicating some hospitals are gaining more in nonprofit tax benefits than they are spending on community benefits, including charity care. Simply demanding more from hospitals isn’t necessarily the answer, though, Elkins said. Newly released financial data shows 31 Minnesota hospitals meet the state’s definition of financial distress because they lost money on operations in four of the last eight years. Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis appears poised for a $205 million state bailout this year to prevent the urban trauma center from closing. HCMC provided the…
