Senator Grassley? Are You Reading this?
Posted by Patti on January 24th, 2008 / Print This Post
Senator Grassley should know about this, and I’ll send him the link to this editorial.
Register reporter Clark Kauffman’s story on nursing-home fines included information that should be of interest to Sen. Charles Grassley: Some nonprofit nursing homes operating in Iowa are paying high CEO salaries and big bucks to board members while enjoying exemption from taxes.
Grassley has a reputation as a nonprofit cop. He appreciates the work the organizations do, but expects them to be honest and reasonable. He has investigated or questioned several nonprofits, including the Red Cross, the Nature Conservancy and televangelists. He has asked hospitals to justify their tax-exempt status.
Now at least a few “charity” nursing homes right here in Iowa deserve his attention — because something is wrong.
Care Initiatives of West Des Moines, which owns 47 centers in Iowa, compensated its chief executive $2.1 million in 2006. Its chief financial officer earned $1.5 million, and board members were paid up to $412 per hour.
Grassley’s eyebrows might be raised even higher at the fact that this charity owns a for-profit insurance company (which insures only the company’s care centers) in the Turks and Caicos Islands, an offshore tax haven.
Similarly, a South Dakota charity with $1.2 billion in assets and 21 nursing homes in Iowa owns a for-profit insurance company in the Cayman Islands because it is the “best fit” for the company, according to a spokesperson.
Because these charities receive tax exemptions, members of the public must pay more.
Grassley should investigate these nursing homes to determine whether tax-exempt status is justified, given the high salaries for executives and payments to board members.