Illinois Hospital Association wants nonprofit tax exemptions - Health ...

Illinois Hospital Association pushes legislators on tax issue

(Crain's) ? One of the biggest political players in Springfield, the Illinois Hospital Association, is flexing its muscle to persuade state legislators to pass a bill that preserves the tax-exempt status of nonprofit medical centers.

Thirty-six members of the Illinois General Assembly sent a letter late last month asking Gov. Pat Quinn to reinstate a moratorium on additional decisions made by the Illinois Department of Revenue on hospital tax-exemption requests.

Most of the legislators are from Downstate Illinois, such as Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, deputy majority leader in the House of Representatives. But the group also includes Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg, D-Evanston, and Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Naperville.

The letter followed a separate letter to Mr. Quinn on behalf of hospitals from every Illinois member of the U.S. House of Representatives except Jan Schakowsky, D- Evanston.

The IHA engineered both letters, a spokesman for the association confirmed.

?What we are doing on various policy fronts is to work with the General Assembly to ensure that the state has a strong health care delivery system,? he said.

The letters are recent signs of the influence of the Naperville-based IHA, which represents more than 200 hospitals statewide.

The IHA?s political action committee during the last decade has consistently been one of the largest contributors to Illinois candidates, according to reports by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a Chicago-based public interest group.

The hospital PAC ranked seventh in contributions, giving nearly $810,000 between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, according to the group. The statistics reflect the most recent election cycle.

The congressional leaders? missive, which was spearheaded by Rep. Randy Hultgren, R-Winfield, emphasized to Mr. Quinn that hospital benefits to their communities, beyond providing free care, should be considered for tax-exempt status, which allows nonprofit hospitals to forgo paying property taxes.

The coalition of state legislators sent its letter after Gov. Quinn on March 1 directed the Revenue Department to resume decisions on tax-exemption applications. Now, the battle has shifted to the General Assembly, where the IHA is well-known.

?They are very sophisticated in their approach to campaign finance and the candidates they support,? said David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. ?Their staff has been very influential within the capitol.?

A spokeswoman for Mr. Quinn declined to comment on the IHA?s apparent clout in the General Assembly.

?We continue to have discussions with stakeholders to find a legislative solution to the issue of property tax exemptions that is both constitutional and recognizes the importance of hospitals in our communities and the need for widespread access to care for the uninsured,? she said in a statement.

Even IHA?s opponents in the tax-exempt fight acknowledge the association?s influence.

?If you're getting big money for your campaign, it's going to be hard to say ?no? to the IHA,? said Diane Limas, a leader in the Chicago-based Fair Care Coalition, an advocacy group that has called for nonprofit hospitals to provide more free care.

The IHA PAC has contributed $4,000 to Mr. Mautino since Jan. 1, 2010, campaign records show.

Before then, the PAC also contributed to Messrs. Dillard and Schoenberg, and to Mr. Hultgren when he was a state senator before his election to Congress in 2010.

Mr. Schoenberg said constituents, not IHA contributions, influenced his position on the moratorium.

?Unless the Quinn administration operates with great care, they could create a scenario of unintended consequences where hospitals with relatively healthy balance sheets decide to convert to for-profit status, consequently leaving more underinsured and uninsured to the remaining nonprofits,? he said.

Political contributions are ?external factors? that don?t enter into what is ?exclusively a matter of health care policy,? said Mr. Schoenberg, who is retiring at the end of the year.

In a statement, Mr. Dillard said, ?Many of my suburban hospitals are targets for what I view as nothing but a revenue grab for Springfield.?

Representatives of Messrs. Mautino and Hultgren and Ms. Schakowsky did not return calls requesting comment.

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