Committee on Finance September 18,2019
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, certain nonprofit universities and hospitals in Chicago, charitable or educational missions notwithstanding, have substantial incomes and substantial accumulated wealth; and
WHEREAS, the average nonprofit hospital in Chicago provides free charity care in an amount of only 1.9% as a ratio of its revenues, with some hospitals providing charity care of only 0.4% as a ratio of their revenues, according to the most recent data available from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board; and
WHEREAS, the nonprofit hospital system Northwestern Medicine had revenue in excess of expenses of $744 million and nonprofit hospital system Ascension, main parent of the joint venture AMITA, had revenue in excess of expenses of $2.1 billion, in the most recent year for which each system has reported financial results; and
WHEREAS, a 2017 Urban Institute study reviewing consumer credit records showed 16% of individuals in Cook County had medical debt in collections; and
WHEREAS, although poverty has consistently been shown to be a social determinant of poor health, Chicago-area hospitals are major low-wage employers, with a 2018 report from the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations finding the 55% of hospital service workers in the Chicago region were paid less than $15 per hour; and
WHEREAS, there is a thirty-year difference in life expectancy between the Gold Coast and Englewood; and
WHEREAS, the published annual tuition of the University of Chicago is $56,034 according to the National Center for Education Statistics, while the annual median income of households in Chicago is $55,295 according to the US Census; and
WHEREAS, the published annual tuition of Loyola University Chicago is $43,078 and the published annual tuition of DePaul University is $39,010 according to the National Center for Education Statistics; and
WHEREAS, student loan debt levels have increased by over 150% since t...
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