|
The other day Scrooge was looking at this list of the 10 highest salaries paid to CEOs of American non-profit charities (those that receive the IRS’ 501(c)3 designation, meaning they are so completely devoted to the public good that donations made to them are tax-deductible). At first, Scrooge was intrigued to see that 7 of the 10 were CEOs of non-profit hospital systems. But then he noticed that the highest paid CEO, from Virginia-based Sentara, earned $33 million dollars in 2022! Now, Scrooge was really excited. Imagine running a charitable hospital system and taking home more annual income than any of the CEOs of the largest for-profit hospital systems! Or, for that matter, more than 80 times what the President of the United States makes. Meanwhile Sentara was receiving millions of dollars of exemptions from federal, state and local taxes! This, Scrooge thought, sounded just too ingenious. Could it really be true? So he did a little more research, learning that Sentara is not only a hospital provider with $10 billion in revenues and dominant in several areas in Virginia, but is also a major health insurance provider. And discovered that Sentara’s Optima insurance arm raised its individual market rates in Charlottesville by 266% in 2017 — thereby making Charlottesville’s ACA insurance costs the highest in the entire country! And that it is the subject of a new Department of Justice investigation under the False Claims Act related to that increase - rates that were the basis for billing Medicare and Medicaid for over $600 million in subsidies. So Scrooge dug a little more — and discovered that one investigative non-profit asked the IRS in 2021 to consider removing Sentara’s tax-exempt status because its Hampton Roads hospitals had engaged in opaque financial assistance policies, including “possible overcharges of uninsured patients and aggressive action against competitors” that violated its legal obligations as a charitable organization. At this point, Scrooge is frankly depressed. He has always been good at exploiting society’s vulnerabilities to build up his hoard of gold. But to do that while still publicly billing yourself as a charitable organization? Could this be true? Even Scrooge isn’t that good. Should Sentara receive our 2023 Scrooge Award? Scrooge is still making up his mind. And you, Rapp Up! Readers, what do you think? Want to know more before you decide? In addition to the above, Scrooge discovered these additional links: The City With the Most Expensive ACA Insurance in the U.S., the Atlantic (paywall) April 24, 2018 The Sentara Lobby: New Power Player in Virginia Government, Checks & Balances, May 5, 2021 Chesapeake Regional files $20M lawsuit against Sentara over cardiologists, open-heart program, Wavy.com, May 14, 2021 Sentara’s Tax-Exempt Status Rests Partly On Its Plan To Help Low-Income And Uninsured Patients, Checks & Balances, May 19, 2021 Sentara Pays $4.3 million Penalty for Improper Claims, Department of Health & Human Services, July 1, 2021 Virginia’s largest insurer wants investigation of Sentara for ‘anti-competitive harm’, Virginia Mercury, Oct. 25, 2021 Class-Action Lawsuit Accuses Sentara Of Mischarging Patients, Daily News Record, Oct. 5, 2022 Virginia: Four Years Later, Sentara Healthcare Is In A Whole Heap Of Trouble W/The DOJ.., ACA Signups.net, Nov 15, 2023
|
