Emergency Aid Should Go to All Hospitals, Norwood Says

Emergency funding through low-interest loans and state- issued mitigation grants should be available for both for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals, "put[ting] all hospitals on equal footing for assistance," Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.) writes in a Dec. 12 opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Currently, Norwood says, federal financial help is only available to not-for-profit hospitals in the "immediate aftermath of ... a disaster," which he calls "unfair." Norwood says, "When people have health care emergencies and have to rush to the hospital, the last thing on their mind is to ask about their local hospital's tax status." According to Norwood, 1,700 hospitals and health systems across the country, or about 20% of facilities, are for-profit. In Georgia, 36 of the state's 154 hospitals are for-profit, and in many of the state's rural communities, for-profit hospitals are the only option available, Norwood writes. He continues, "Denying federal assistance to hospitals, based merely on tax status, ultimately discriminates against people in communities that depend upon these hospitals for emergency care." As a result, Norwood says, he is sponsoring a bill (HR 3239) that would amend the current law and give FEMA funding or loans to for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals alike. Norwood concludes, "This is more than a matter of fairness -- it also is about ensuring continuity of patient care in communities throughout Georgia and the nation following a disaster" (Norwood, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 12/12).