Members of the House Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee held a heated hearing this week after a “Consumer Warning” report accused several nonprofit hospitals of using taxpayer-protected status to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), gender ideology, and climate activism rather than lowering costs or improving patient care. The hearing’s theme was “Virtue Signaling vs. Vital Services: Where Tax‑Exempt Hospitals are Spending Your Tax Dollars.”
Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, testified on how nonprofit hospital executives increasingly view healthcare as only part of their mission, often elevating activist agendas above core medical services. The report singled out five hospital systems — including Cleveland Clinic, Vanderbilt, Henry Ford Health, Memorial Hermann, and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital — for allegedly directing millions of dollars toward DEI programs, transgender care for minors, climate activism, and other non‑clinical initiatives while benefiting from tax exemptions and government funding.
Hild warned that such misallocation of resources not only dilutes what hospitals pledge to offer when given tax‑exempt status but can also drive costs up and degrade quality of care. He said that hospitals which engage in gender‑affirming medical interventions on minors are particularly egregious examples of straying from what a “reasonable person would consider part of providing healthcare.” He urged lawmakers and regulators to reassess tax breaks and demand transparency.
The hearing also explored the lack of price transparency in nonprofit hospital operations. Hild argued that many hospitals do not clearly disclose how much care costs, or how much is spent on administrative or activist programs versus direct medical services. He suggested that when nonprofit hospitals fail to show that their nonprofit status is being used to serve patients first, it may be time to reconsider whether they deserve special tax privileges.
