logoalt Hacker News

Property taxes going up? The 340B Program might be partly responsible

36 pointsby larsiusprimetoday at 8:09 PM25 commentsview on HN

Comments

shigawiretoday at 10:36 PM

I'll not dispute the impact on expansion and consolidation, but I will say in recent months I have seen a number of hit pieces on the 340B program, mostly bankrolled by pharma companies (not this one just calling out the trend).

The exact implementation might be flawed, but if 340b is eliminated it will kill many hospitals in underserved communities.

So any plan to change 340B should really also explain how to fund these critical hospitals.

In the way that surgeries used to be the "money maker" to subsidize other expensive service lines like an ED, pharmacy has filled that gap in recent years.

It is less hospitals getting rich off overcharging insurance for drugs and more hospitals overcharging insurers for drugs since everything else they do is a drain on finances.

show 1 reply
stephen_cagletoday at 10:02 PM

Really seems to me that there should be no exemption for land tax for non profits or religious reasons. It is just far too subject to abuse, and it means that we have large churches in the middle of incredibly dense cities that pay almost nothing in taxes.

show 6 replies
afewscribblestoday at 10:26 PM

At least the early comments seem very focused on churches despite this article literally mentioning "religious" uses once and focusing nigh exclusively on hospitals.

Universities and hospitals are some of the worst offenders in situations like this, especially in urban cores, likely empowered by their clear transformation into state-sanctioned "non-profit" businesses that provide a good we are compelled to consume if we are a normie who wants a reasonable guarantee of a comfortable, healthy economic existence.

jeffbeetoday at 9:23 PM

TL;DR taking properties off the tax roll costs the remaining taxpayers more. Pretty basic stuff. I've been talking this up to local electeds for decades, with very little progress. The only success I've had is ending the local program that makes "historic" properties tax exempt, but the huge whale exemptions for hospitals and whatnot remain.

show 4 replies
xnxtoday at 10:17 PM

We need a prominent [even more] obvious scam "church" to abuse the system so badly that the exemption is eliminated for all.

show 1 reply