American Commitment sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging reforms to rein in large non-profit hospitals that distort the healthcare market while benefiting from massive taxpayer subsidies and tax exemptions. Without accountability for this sector, free market healthcare will remain out of reach. Here is a portion of that letter, and you can read the full letter here.
Leader Thune:
As we continue to advance legislation in this Congress to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, and to move the healthcare system in a more free market direction, it’s imperative that Congressional attention remain focused on the ways in which governments are distorting healthcare, and in particular the behavior of large non-profit hospitals. Until this hospital sector (which does not include rural safety net hospitals) is freed from this government influence, socialized medicine remains a key threat to the American people.
Hospitals receive approximately 37% of all Medicare spending, and 32% of all Medicaid spending–a total of around $650 billion annually. Government money creates both dependence and rent seeking behavior, but it is also a conduit for waste, fraud, and abuse. The market distorting actions from these large non-profit hospitals are the driver of many of the worst problems with our nation’s healthcare…