<p>I’m a little suspicious of the argument that the costs alone are preventing the UCMC from opening a trauma center. The medical center made a net profit of $148,207,000 and a net asset of $1,164,975,000 at the end of 2011. Moreover, the UCMC is registered as a non-profit, charitable hospital and thus receives tax breaks and property tax breaks intended as, in a sense, a gift for providing charity care. But the UCMC “receives annual property tax breaks that were estimated at nearly three times (and total tax breaks estimated at nearly six times) what the [it spends] annually on charity care.” And if the UCMC claims that it cannot afford to run a trauma center, at the very least, we have to wonder where this money is going.</p>
<p>Here’s an article with more in-depth information about the medical center’s role as a non-profit. The numbers on net profit and assets were quoted from one of my professors, by the way.</p>
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