Sheehy’s plan hurts rural hospitals

I am a retired CPA and former CFO of hospitals in Whitefish, Dillon and Miles City. In addition I am a past president of the Montana chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Tim Sheehy’s plan to privatize hospitals in Montana will have draconian effects. Local hospitals will no longer have a 501 (c) (3) tax exemption. Thus hospitals will be forced to pay property taxes on land, buildings and equipment. And hospital foundations will go away, as contributions will not be deductible.  

Under private ownership, the hospital will have to pay a handsome return on investment. Of course, unprofitable services will be most likely discontinued. And certainly, many hospitals would close.

But Montana citizens should not just take my word for it.  Call your local hospital board members and administrators and request them to calculate the effect on the hospital if the tax exemption goes away and Medicare and Medicaid cease to exist.

Montanans love their not-for-profit hospitals. It would be a travesty if Tim Sheehy gets his way and they all get taken over by Wall Street firms.

­— Jim Alderson, La Quinta, California