Nonprofit Rip-Offs Escape Public Outrage

Pharmaceutical costs, gasoline prices, doctor's fees, insurance
company antics, and other rip-offs are deservedly under fire most of
the time by an outraged public. But why are nonprofits immune to
criticism?

Nobody is screaming bloody murder over the cost of higher education
even though colleges and universities are constantly growing in wealth
as they charge steadily rising tuitions and at the same time lay off
more and more employees.

It was announced recently that one of the nation's most prestigious
universities is letting nearly 200 staffers go because one of their
endowments has been reduced to $26 billion. Neither the president, nor
the department heads, nor any of the faculty will be affected, and
neither will the construction of new buildings.

Building will always continue because with nonprofits the money must
be spent. The balance sheets at the end of the year cannot show a
profit. There is a profit to be sure, ever larger each year, but it
cannot be seen as a profit. It must appear as an investment in the
institution itself.

The only difference between a for-profit and a nonprofit corporation
is in where the profit goes. In the corporate world, it goes to the
stock holders. In the nonprofit realm, it goes to the organization's
important people, to beneficial projects of all kinds, and largely to
new buildings.

Even though tuition keeps going up, and even though the excess income
is difficult to hide, the quality of education does not change. The
old principle that you get what you pay for does not fit well when it
comes to higher education.

It is possible, however, to get an under-qualified student admitted to
a high-ranking university by making a large but very proper
contribution to the venerable monument of academia. Then you do get
what you pay for. If you have enough money, your kid can go the
college of his or her choice.

The same game goes on with nonprofit hospitals. A woman I know spent
most of her adult life until retirement as an accountant for two major
hospitals in the Philadelphia area. As the end of each fiscal year
approached, she needed more than one glass of sherry to help her relax
when she got home. Hiding the money seemed impossible but somehow she
and her team did so successfully year after year.

As hospital costs keep rising, the care of poor people in the
emergency rooms or clinics keeps getting worse. A hospital in
Jacksonville Florida flatly turns away poor people consistently by
using some barely legal excuse. Other hospitals simply make uninsured
patients wait until they either go away or develop an actual
emergency.

If your case becomes critically urgent, you are more likely to be seen
by someone, but still there is no guarantee, especially if you don't
have insurance. Poor people who die waiting are not likely to sue. The
population that is likely to bring a lawsuit goes to the head of the
line. Those darn lawyers!

Sometimes, even with the best insurance, your care will be delayed or
simply not given. I took my mother to the ER one time when she was
dehydrated plus exhibiting cardiac symptoms, and because the staff
recognized her, she was taken into an examining room.

She laid in a bed in that room for a full 30 minutes, until I, in a
fury, marched up to the nurses' station, where I found them sitting
around chatting and chuckling. I was forced to demand that she be
seen.

There was certainly no shortage of money at that hospital. They were
in the midst of three construction projects, and I could hear the
heavy equipment rumbling outside my mother's unattended room. The
building contractors were very busy, but the nurses were chatting, and
no doctor was seen anywhere I looked.

These kinds of abominations keep on increasing because nobody
complains. The corporate world receives all the fire, but the
nonprofits just keep getting fatter.

My own income is very small, so I have to try to get health care from
a public clinic that is under the Florida Department of Health. My
pharmacy had to call the clinic seven times before a refill on my
blood pressure medicine could be obtained. Nobody answered the phone.

When I went to my last appointment for a checkup, scheduled three
months in advance, I was turned away because they were awaiting their
Medicare recertification. They were too busy relaxing to call me and
reschedule, so they waited until I arrived.

I can't get much medical care in that place, but the building is
stunning!


Fr. Heyward B. Ewart, III, Ph.D., is fighting the higher-education
scam by running a new distance-learning seminary where full programs
cost less than a single course elsewhere. Http://stjamestheelderseminary.org.
At the seminary website, there are two podcasts where he broadcasts
his favorite topics. He is also a crusader against child abuse and has
authored the book AM I BAD? Recovering from Abuse (Loving Healing
Press).
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