Lawmakers Eye Allowing For-Profit Hospitals To Get Relief.

This article reports that the for-profit hospitals in the U.S. are hoping that the federal largesse being extended in the wake of Hurricane Katrina will include them. Louisiana lawmakers are already lining up to support a change the industry has long sought, making for-profit facilities eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief under a 1974 law that provides for the rebuilding of hospitals. The for-profit hospital industry, led by its trade association, the Federation of American Hospitals, tried in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to change the Stafford law.