As the Trump administration ramps up its fight against fraud, waste, and abuse, particularly in the healthcare system, Trump alumni at Public Policy Solutions are highlighting the work of House Ways and Means Committee Republicans to root out fraud, waste, and abuse in the tax-exempt hospital system.
In a new ad, Public Policy Solutions, led by former Trump advisor Joe Grogan and former Trump OMB aide John Czwartacki, highlight Ways and Means Republicans as they highlight “healthcare dollars funding everything but healthcare” through tax exempt hospitals.
Rep. Jason Smith (R., Mo.), the Ways and Means Committee Chairman, noted that tax-exempt hospitals use their benefits to fund “real estate investments, stadium naming rights, green energy initiatives, and political activism,” adding that “not-for-profit hospitals look like hedge funds with hospital beds.”
Rep. Kevin Hern (R., Okla.), added: “340 B programs, why are those used today? We have to tear this entire system down.”
The ad also includes footage of Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R., Pa.) in a hearing questioning nonprofit hospital executives for reportedly spending $163,000 on board meetings in Europe, Canada, and Mexico, and Rep. Aaron Bean (R., Fla.) calling out the inconsistency: “you said give us tax exempt status, give us rural designation what did you do? Less charity care and you raised your prices.” The Washington Reporter previously covered that hearing.
The ad comes as as the American Hospital Association (AHA) and hospital lobby have ramped up lobbying against any transparency efforts tied to the tax-exempt hospital program, as the Reporter previously covered.
In recent weeks, Ways and Means Republicans have attempted to advance a hospital transparency bill that would make simple adjustments to the Schedule H IRS forms that tax-exempt hospitals file to justify the benefits they receive.
The AHA responded with threats to go politically nuclear, including targeting members in their own districts and suggesting Republicans were threatening charity programs, while sources close to Ways and Means Republicans made clear to the Reporter that “the bill focused on basic transparency and accountability measures taxpayers deserve from an industry taking so much and giving back so little.”
The AHA’s legislative lobbying at times paid major dividends. A former Senate staffer previously told the Reporter that “the AHA, to its credit, ran effective ads proclaiming that the OBBB would devastate hospitals and Medicaid but it just wasn’t true. The cuts — to the extent there were any — were to waste, fraud, and abuse, and they don’t even come into play for years. It was extremely annoying as we were whipping votes and trying to get Senators Murkowski and Cassidy comfortable with getting to yes.”
The staffer previously laid out to the Reporter that the AHA “had Tillis convinced that Medicaid was going to end. AHA really was super annoying during OBBB. They almost killed it.”
Grogan spoke to the Reporter about his ad and the state of play of the legislative back-and-forth.
“The American people are finally waking up to the reality that they are being taken for a ride by so-called nonprofit hospitals, who avoid paying taxes while extracting money from state and federal government, even as they fleece their patients,” he said. “House Republicans are rightfully demanding transparency from the institutions who’ve enriched themselves, while their lobby groups incessantly claim hospitals are on the verge of closure.”
“Those under the delusion that large tax-exempt hospitals resemble in any way the charity hospitals of yesteryear, should note the unhinged response from the American Hospital Association after House Ways and Means scheduled a markup on a hospital transparency bill,” Grogan added. “Their statement sent a message to committee leadership about as subtle as a mob boss breaking kneecaps.”
