Illinois hospital offers more aid to poor

Joliet, IL-based Silver Cross Hospital will pledge to spend at least $40 million over the next 10 years to care for underinsured and uninsured patients in Will County if a state board allows it to relocate to New Lenox. The "charity care" payments are part of a growing package of incentives the hospital has assembled to ease concerns of patients and soothe tensions with officials who have opposed the relocation plan. The $4 million charity plan also includes $8 million toward the redevelopment of the current hospital and the creation of a non-profit Healthy Community Commission dedicated to improving health conditions in the city.