the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Aug 5, 2024
Nearly two-thirds of 5,000 hospitals in the U.S., or around 3,900, are so-called non-profit businesses, according to the IRS. Unlike us, non-profit hospitals pay no taxes, that is, no property tax, no state or federal income tax, and no sales tax. Zilch!
These “non-profit” hospitals include Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Mass General, and Stanford University, among the most prestigious hospitals in the U.S. and the world.
These hospitals generate vast sums of money from their operations. For example, Stanford University generated 62% of its operating revenue in 2023 from its hospital services. One hospital, Atrium Health Foundation (Charlotte, NC), was so profitable that it parked $52 million of its 2017 revenue in the Cayman Islands, the tax evaders’ paradise.
These hospitals reward their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) with mind-boggling yearly payments in return for generating so much money. For example, the non-profit Banner Health (Phoenix) paid its top executive 21.6 million dollars in 2017.
On paper, to claim non-profit business status, these hospitals are supposed to lower healthcare costs or provide free healthcare for those who can’t otherwise afford it and provide some vague “community benefit.”
But this is often a cruel joke. Many of us know someone burdened with an exorbitant bill from a so-called non-profit hospital, a bill we simply cannot afford to pay.
Many experts have denounced these hospitals as naked profit grabs. “Hospitals are some of the biggest businesses in the U.S.—nonprofit in name only, … Great work if you can get it,” said Martin Gaynor, an economics and public policy professor at Carnegie Mellon University.