Not-for-Profit community hospitals' exempt status at issue in charity care controversy

Revocations of local property tax exemptions, class action lawsuits, and state and Congressional investigations all beset the not-for-profit sector of the hospital industry. These problems originated from issues relating to the pricing of services to the uninsured, the relative availability of "charity care" or lack thereof and the collection tactics that some hospital-contracted collectors use. Is this controversy really just symptomatic of the extent to which health care charging and payment systems are out of whack? Are ambiguous government regulations to blame? Is large-scale payment reform the real answer?