Non-profit Hospitals Raked in Massive Profits During Wuhan Virus Pandemic As They Received $23 Billion in Federal Wuhan Virus Aid
Jose Nino
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Federal officials doled out $23 billion in Wuhan virus aid to the United State’s top 20 non-profit hospitals, even while there was a 62% increase in the hospitals’ collective net assets which led to simultaneous increases in the institutions’ total profits and revenues from 2018 to 2021, per the new report.
According to Mark Tappscott of The Epoch Times, only two of the 20 institutions have repaid the government for the Wuhan virus aid they obtained.
“The 20 largest nonprofit hospitals in the country continued making massive profits while their cumulative net assets soared to $324.3 billion in 2021, up from $200.6 billion in 2018.
Those hospital systems received congressional COVID bailouts of $23 billion and only two providers partially paid their COVID bailout back,” per a report organized by Open The Books, an Illinois-based research nonprofit that compiles and posts spending by all levels of government in the US.
The biggest increase among the top 20 was 92% by the Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minnesota, whose assets surged upward to $17.7 billion in 2021 from $9.2 billion in 2018. The Mayo Clinic received $350,000 in federal Wuhan virus aid, which is the lowest figure received among the top 20 institutions.
The Cleveland Clinic Health System, which is based out of Independence, Ohio, witnessed its assets grow by 60%, to $15.7 billion from $9.8 billion, while obtaining $118 million in federal Wuhan virus aid. Intermountain Healthcare, which is based out of Salt Lake City, the 12th-largest in the top 20, enjoyed a 63% growth in net assets to $11.6 billion from $7.1 billion; Intermountain obtained $518 million in aid.
The Northwestern Medicine system witnessed a 43% jump in net assets, surging to $11.9 billion from $8.3 billion, while also receiving $419 million in Wuhan virus aid. The Indiana University Health System went to $10.3 billion in 2021 from $7 billion in 2018, which marked a 47% increase. The Indiana facility obtained $726 million in Wuhan virus aid from the government.
As the 20 hospitals received large amounts of government largesse, pay for their top executives skyrocketed, often beyond $10 million annually, per the report.
For example, the CEO of Ascension Healthcare, which is based in St. Louis and is the nation’s second-largest system, obtained $13 million in 2021 and over $22 million over the period the study analyzed.
The leading recipient among the top 20 of the most Wuhan virus aid was San Francisco-based CommonSpirit Health with $3.6 billion, which was then followed by Providence St. Joseph Center with $3 billion, Ascension Healthcare with $2.7 billion, Livonia Health with $2.3 billion and Sutter Health, based in Sacramento, California, with $1.7 billion.
Meanwhile, the overall health of Americans worsened between 2018 and 2021.
“American life expectancy during this period sharply declined by a staggering 2.5 years from 2019 through 2022. While ‘comparable country averages’ rebounded from a COVID-related drop in 2021, the United States continued declining in life expectancy,” the report discovered.
“Yet, the cost of health care is still astronomically high, as the average family paid $22,463 in health insurance premiums in 2022. That does not include out-of-pocket costs like co-pays and deductibles, which can be thousands more. This has led to medical debt for about 100 million Americans,” the report added.
Indeed, there are nasty rent-seeking actors who exploit crises to rake in big profits. The Wuhan virus pandemic has showcased this. In a rational society, such private actors must be decisively punished. No one, public or private, should profit off government-created crises.
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