Nonprofit hospitals — which make up around half of hospitals in the United States — were founded to help the poor.But a Times investigation has revealed that many have deviated from those charitable roots, behaving like for-profit companies, sometimes to the detriment of the health of patients.Guest: Jessica Silver-Greenberg, an investigative business reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: With the help of a consulting firm, the Providence hospital system trained staff members to wring money out of patients, even those eligible for free care.Dozens of doctors have said that this New York nonprofit hospital pressured them to give preferential treatment to donors, trustees and their families.Bon Secours Mercy Health, a major nonprofit health system, used a poor neighborhood to tap into a lucrative federal drug program.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
The New York Times investigates the financial practices of nonprofit hospitals and uncovers that they have been prioritizing making profits over caring for impoverished patients, leaving them with large medical bills. The investigation centers around a woman named Alexandra Knifors, who was abandoned by her nonprofit hospital during a medical emergency.
Alexandra is admitted to the emergency department alone, worried about her health and the cost of her treatment.
Alexandra's experience as a low-income patient highlights the harm caused by hospital systems implementing programs to maximize revenue from those who were supposed to receive free care, as a means of compensating for the high costs of hospital mergers.
Community hospitals are taking advantage of steep discounts on prescription drugs for low-income patients, charging full price to insurers, and keeping the difference. Additionally, there is a lack of screening to determine eligibility for free care, and staff are reportedly being instructed to push for payment from patients.
Bonsacores, like many non-profit hospital systems in America, enjoys non-profit tax status while generating billions of dollars in revenue; In the case of Bon Secours, doctors and patients, are bothered that the hospital is cutting back on services to low-income patients while buying “Superfluous” high-value assets such as surgical centers in rich suburbs.
The Biden administration has planned to send 50 Abrams tanks to Ukraine amid tensions with Russia. Richmond's mayor requested a federal investigation into Bon Secours hospital system after a New York Times investigation revealed the unequal treatment of the Black community, and classified documents were found in the home of former Vice President Mike Pence.