What Congress is Saying

“By tightening their grip over healthcare, corporate tycoons place profits over patients. Big bucks over the Hippocratic oath.”

– Bill Pascrell @BillPascrell (D) 

“In recent years… tax-exempt hospitals have pursued aggressive debt collection, denied charity care to those who qualify, & have engaged in anti-competitive practices at the expense of patients & taxpayers.”

– Judy Chu @RepJudyChu (D) 

“Nonprofit hospitals derive substantial benefits from their tax-exempt status, but in some cases aren’t providing the charity care that their nonprofit status requires. Nonprofit hospitals have an obligation to serve indigent patients and not try to push them off on other hospitals, but the numbers show they aren’t doing this.”

– Greg Steube (R) 

“We are increasingly hearing about how some nonprofit hospitals are making it difficult for eligible patients to get financial assistance, are delaying checking patients’ eligibility for financial assistance, and are sometimes engaging in aggressive billing and debt collection practices.”

– Greg Steube (R) 

“[Nonprofit] hospitals often don’t help needy patients, even those who qualify.”

– Greg Steube (R) @RepGregSteube 

“We don’t have the transparency necessary to fully understand what community benefits are being provided [from nonprofit hospitals].”

– Brad Schneider (D) @RepSchneider 

“How challenging it can be for the IRS to determine whether a nonprofit hospital is providing sufficient community benefits because the requirements are so ambiguous.”

– Suzan DelBene 

“Despite the benefits, we know that there needs to be increased oversight [of nonprofit hospitals] … How can the federal government increase oversight of tax-exempt hospitals to ensure that their practices are consistent with the law?”

– Suzan DelBene @RepDelBene 

“Clearly we need to have oversight so we can see if folks aren’t receiving the benefits [from nonprofit hospitals] they deserve.”

– Suzan DelBene (D) @RepDelBene 

“It looks like a patient with financial insecurity needs to fill out more paperwork to receive financial aid than it does for a hospital to obtain nonprofit status.”

– Beth Van Duyne (R) @RepBethVanDuyne 

“This is absurd. Absolutely absurd. We have charity care going on in this country where CEOs and executives are paid millions of dollars, getting taxpayer money, to run these [nonprofit] hospitals.” 

– Greg Murphy (R) @RepGregMurphy 

“This needs to be a reckoning with board rooms across the country, especially in nonprofits. Nonprofits. Charity care. That we need to re-examine CEO pay. Because it’s just not right.”

– Greg Murphy @RepGregMurphy