Tax-exempt hospitals are not putting their patients first

There is something seriously wrong with American health care. Rising costs mean that Americans now pay nearly twice as much as people in similar countries, without getting better outcomes. “It’s complicated,” say those who want to keep prices high and rising. But some of it is simple, as my organization is showing with research on hospital systems like Cleveland Clinic.

Hospital executives are leading luxurious lifestyles while claiming that every dollar spent — on television commercials, Abu Dhabi real estate, or modern art — is ‘health care.’

A longtime household name, Cleveland Clinic presents itself as an altruistic institution focused on health and patients. As a tax-exempt corporation, everything Cleveland Clinic does is subsidized by taxpayers, and it receives many other direct and indirect benefits in the interest of public health. Yet it pays executives millions, has massive holdings overseas, and maintains a collection of fine art.

Why are your health care bills and insurance premiums going up? Why is government spending and borrowing more and more to subsidize care? Look no farther than the misplaced priorities of profit-maximizing “nonprofit” hospitals like Cleveland Clinic.

Recent news has exposed massive waste and fraud against taxpayers in places like Minnesota, California, and Washington state. Yet the problem is deeper and more systemic. Rooting out actual theft is essential. So is confronting waste and abuse, especially within large health care institutions.

Last month, Save Our States launched a campaign calling out a massive hospital system run by the University of Miami. While its transplant center was failing, hospital executives were focused on building a lavish new lobby and expanding into Abu Dhabi.

Our new exposé on Cleveland Clinic found surprisingly similar luxury expenses. It has an in-house art museum, for example, boasting a “world-renowned collection” of nearly 7,000 pieces of contemporary art. Like many hospitals, it spares no expense on public relations and advertising — Cleveland Clinic even ran its own Super Bowl ad.

The clinic pays millions in executive salaries. Those executives are planning a massive new sports center with the Cleveland Cavaliers, to go along with their fancy foreign facilities in places like London, Toronto, and — once again — Abu Dhabi.

How do these expenses benefit American patients? And why should taxpayers subsidize any of it?

Some medical providers do pay taxes. A doctor with an independent practice gets taxed like any other business. But sell that practice to a tax-exempt hospital, even one with billions in revenue, and suddenly it becomes tax-exempt. At the same time, hospital-owned practices often start adding “hospital facility fees” on top of regular bills.

They charge patients more for the same services, then pay less in taxes. No wonder massive hospital systems buy up smaller practices and facilities. These are policy choices, not market forces, driving consolidation in health care. The result is lower quality, higher prices, and misplaced priorities.

RELATED: America has a spending problem Congress refuses to fix

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For many Americans, the rising prices go first to their insurance, later showing up in rising premiums and lower take-home pay. And all Americans see the cost in taxes. Everyone pays somehow, in higher costs, less access to care, or both.

Meanwhile, hospital executives are leading luxurious lifestyles while claiming that every dollar spent — on television commercials, Abu Dhabi real estate, or modern art — is “health care.”

During its spending spree, Cleveland Clinic has faced allegations of deceptive billing, accusations of overcharging patients, reports of underpaying nurses, and stories of medical debt lawsuits brought against its own patients.

Our new site, ClevelandClinicBetrayedPatients.com, documents the misplaced priorities of this massive, taxpayer-supported hospital system.

Given that Cleveland Clinic is in Vice President JD Vance’s home state of Ohio, hopefully he can make it a focus of his new appointment by President Trump to lead the “war on fraud.” The vice president and congressional leaders need to scrutinize spending at all subsidized hospitals — starting with the biggest.

The question is not: “Does it do some good somewhere?” One good program does not justify waste elsewhere. The question is: “Are any taxpayer dollars subsidizing waste, abuse, or unnecessary extravagance?”

Americans need health systems that respect taxpayers and put patients first. More than anything, we need the kind of competition that creates accountability, demands transparency, fosters innovation, and produces better services at lower prices.