Lawmakers Probe Nonprofit Hospitals, Challenge Tax-Exempt Status

A bipartisan group of four US senators wants the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department to investigate whether nonprofit hospitals are abusing their tax-exempt status.

The lawmakers pointed to cases of nonprofit hospitals charging full price for services that should have been free or discounted. They also said some of these institutions pursued indigent patients for medical debt, including placing liens on their homes.

More than half of approximately 5,200 community hospitals in the US are nonprofit, and are supposed to provide charity care in return for their tax-exempt status.

“We are alarmed by reports that despite their tax-exempt status, ...