Opinion: Changing Hospitals’ Tax Status Could Have Unintended Consequences

The potential impact of a proposal by Sen. Max Baucus and Sen. Charles E. Grassley to reconsider the tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals that provide insufficient charity care is the subject of a Slate commentary.

Zachary F. Meisel and Jesse M. Pines, both senior fellows at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, write that government “should demand good behavior in exchange for tax benefits, but it is important to consider what may happen to patients if nonprofits find their tax breaks in jeopardy.”

They warn that the senators’ proposal could place a bigger financial burden on strapped nonprofit hospitals or create an incentive for some to become for-profit institutions, reducing access to care for low-income patients.

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s article on the senators’ proposal.

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