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To: ild who wrote (26001)	3/19/2005 2:19:40 PM
From: ild	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

Congressional Tax Committee Takes Up Home Equity Loans By Kenneth R. Harney Saturday, March 19, 2005; Page F01 The hottest consumer-financing concepts in America -- home equity loans and credit lines -- have entered the sights of a key congressional committee. The staff of the influential Joint Committee on Taxation, which advises both the House and Senate on tax policy issues, has proposed eliminating interest deductions for all second mortgages and credit lines. The proposal is included in a wide-ranging "options" paper that identifies revenue-raising measures to stem the federal budget deficit, simplify the tax code and "improve tax compliance." The staff paper also proposes eliminating the tax-free status of income received by homeowners when they rent out their properties for less than 15 days a year. The curtailment of home equity deductions would raise an estimated $22.6 billion in federal taxes between 2005 and 2009, according to the committee staff. The home rental proposal would raise far less, an estimated $100 million. more... washingtonpost.com

To: ild who wrote (26001)	3/19/2005 4:01:42 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 116555

You're right. I should explain that Cedar-Sinai is not only non-profit but also has a long history of large private donations to create the facility. On the other hand they have programs like liver transplantation etc which require expensive equipment which other hospitals do not spend money on. The bottom line is they are a hospital which insurers like Blue Cross could not easily take off their list. So Cedars agrees to Blue Cross contracted rates, only so long as Blue Cross kicks in additional payments at the end of the year to cover their true costs. .