ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)
Fruit orders must be turned in by the November 21st meeting. Each member is asked to sell 18 cases or make an equivalent donation. Please contact Robb for details or complaints.
The club said “Shalom” to Benny and Hanna, who thanked us for our friendship.
The C-U Sunrise Holiday party will be held on December 12 at our normal meeting time. Party Planner Patrice Grant will oversee things again this year.
PROGRAM
Tom Ulen introduced his friend and colleague, John Columbo. Professor Columbo earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Illinois. He is a distinguished scholar of tax law and holds the appointment as the Albert E. Jenner Jr. Professor in the College of Law.
Professor Columbo spoke about “The Carle Problem”. He believes that Carle Hospital has two problems with regard to tax law.
The first problem has to do with the treatment of non-profit hospitals as tax exempt. For example, in 2012 Carle had $108 million net revenue on $435 million total operating revenues, a 25% profit margin. Carle also had $763 million in unrestricted cash reserves. Furthermore, hospitals do not give more in charity than many businesses that match the charitable donations of their employees or give back to their communities in other ways.
Why then are hospitals treated as charities? The answer is historic. Hospitals in the 1800’s were really homeless shelters for the poor, run by religious orders. They were the place that the poor went to die. If you were rich, you had a personal physician who came to your home.
All of that changed in the early 20th century. With the development of septic techniques, hospitals became the place where doctors practiced their craft.
Hospitals must have a primary mission of charity, not of selling healthcare to be tax exempt. Today American hospitals, with the exception of Shriner’s, St. Jude’s and possible academic medical centers, do not have a primarily charitable mission.
The second problem is the unequal burden of the tax exemption. Urbana residents benefit from 17.5% of the free or discounted care provided by Carle, but Urbana and to a lesser extent, Champaign County, suffer all of the losses of tax income. This is unfair to Urbana and its schools. It is also bad tax policy. No mayor would want a not for profit to move within city lines.
What is the answer? Spread the loss around communities that are benefiting from the services of regional hospitals. Professor Columbo and Professor Laurie Reynolds are working on a proposal to require surrounding communities to reimburse Urbana. But he believes that it will never come to pass because of the enormous sums that hospitals contribute to political campaigns.
If you are interested in following this issue, you can follow Professor Columbo’s blog.
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| Nov 21st | Dec 5th | Dec 12th | Dec 19th | |
| Introductions | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson | CUSR | Phillip Holthaus |
| Invocation | Andrew Kerins | Rod Roberts | Holiday Party | Tod Satterthwaite |
| Greeters | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson | Make Sure | Phillip Holthaus |
| Allan Penwell | Ed Perry | You come see | Marsha Reardon | |
| Song Leader | Phyllis Mischo | Penn Nelson | Chuck Reifsteck’s | Gary Olsen |
| Notetaker | Lintner | Conforti | Red Coat | Chamberlain |
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Upcoming Schedule
November 21st – Matt Bollant, head coach of women’s basketball at UIUC
December 5th – Kirby Vandirvort and Kristen Williamson from the Rotary District 6490 GSE team that went to Italy
December 12th – C-U Sunrise Rotary Holiday program, featuring The Other Guys
December 19th – Alan Nudo and Steve Becket will discuss the Campaign for Redistricting Reform
January 2nd – TBD
January 9th – TBD
