Washington just received a reminder that when it comes to healthcare transparency, many hospitals still prefer the shadows.
In a new op-ed for the Daily Caller News Foundation, Public Policy Solutions co-founder Joe Grogan examines the fierce backlash against proposals requiring nonprofit hospitals to demonstrate how they use their tax-exempt status to benefit patients and communities. Tax-exempt hospitals receive more than $50 billion annually in federal, state, and local tax benefits, yet many provide little evidence that those subsidies are translating into increased charity care or lower costs for patients.
In his op-ed, Joe writes:
Washington just got an important lesson in the uncharitable nature of what were once called charity hospitals. When House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith floated a proposal to require nonprofit hospitals to explain how they are using their tax-exempt status to benefit patient care, the hospital lobby moved quickly to issue thinly veiled threats to lawmakers on the committee.
The markup was pulled under duress, and the American Hospital Association (AHA)revealed its clients would go the mattresses to squash efforts at transparency that threaten the status quo.
That reaction should raise a simple question: what, exactly, are nonprofit hospitals trying to hide?
Read the full op-ed: “Hospitals Go to the Mattresses to Avoid Transparency,” by Joe Grogan in the Daily Caller News Foundation.