![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cdc-fpPf0lxu0-4-unsplash.jpg\")
Photo by CDC<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\nIn one of the scariest moments in modern history, we’re doing our best at ScheerPost to pierce the fog of lies that conceal it but we need some help to pay our writers and staff. Please consider a tax-deductible donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n By William Rice and Miriam Straus \/ Inequality.org<\/a><\/p>\n Even though most of us think of healthcare as a human right, the reality is that in the United States the provision of healthcare is big business.\u00a0It places profits over people, demonstrating that priority through tax dodging, price gouging, insurance denials, and unsafe conditions for patients, as documented in a\u00a0recent joint report<\/a>\u00a0from our two organizations,\u00a0Americans for Tax Fairness<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Community Catalys<\/a>t<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report, \u201cSick Profits<\/a>,\u201d highlights how seven healthcare corporations have together saved over $34 billion in federal taxes thanks to the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law\u00a0recently extended<\/a>\u00a0by the current Trump administration and Republican Congress. They paid for those corporate tax breaks in part\u00a0by cutting Medicaid and jeopardizing health coverage for\u00a015 million people<\/a>,\u00a0and failing to preserve the enhanced premium tax credits for people buying health insurance through the Affordable Care Act\u00a0(ACA)\u00a0Marketplaces.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n We currently have public policy that cuts taxes on corporations while ignoring nearly\u00a0two-thirds of people<\/a>\u00a0who believe that big companies are not paying enough. Instead, healthcare corporations have each enjoyed hundreds of millions\u2013in most cases, billions\u2013of dollars in tax savings thanks to the Republican tax law, the most expensive part of which was a two-fifths cut in the corporate tax rate. They have also saved taxes by exploiting loopholes that the law (and its extension) failed to close, including in the accounting for stock options and the treatment of profits shifted offshore.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, the companies examined in the report did not use their tax savings to lower prices, hire more providers, or improve patient care. No, the money went instead to higher executive compensation and increased payouts to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks.<\/p>\n Additionally, companies are maximizing their profits by simply not paying for care. By demanding \u201cpreauthorization\u201d for a dizzying number of procedures then routinely denying approval, insurers can save billions at the expense of their policyholders. High percentages of initial denials are overturned on appeal, showing that \u201cno\u201d is simply the initial default position, taken in the hopes that patients and doctors won\u2019t push the issue. Claim denials often result in medical debt and can also disrupt treatment for chronic medical conditions, delay or deny access to lifesaving care, and lead to avoidable complications\u2013or even death.<\/p>\n Claim denials affect the health and wellbeing of people every day. They are people like\u00a0Little John Cupp<\/a>, who began feeling short of breath and experienced swelling in his feet and ankles. His doctor recommended a catheter exam to determine whether the arteries in his heart were blocked. However, the medical benefits management company EviCore (owned by Cigna) twice denied the catheter exam while eventually approving a much lower-cost stress test. The delay in diagnosis proved catastrophic. Less than two days after Mr. Cupp received the stress test, he died of cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n The tragedy of the end of Mr. Cupp\u2019s life demonstrates the incredibly real risks that the first obstacle to getting care creates. Unfortunately, clearing that hurdle and receiving approval for care does not ensure quality. You could find yourself getting treatment at a facility saving money for shareholders by reducing staff and failing to maintain safe and hygienic conditions.\u00a0NBC News<\/a>\u00a0aired a six-part investigation of hospital-operator HCA Holdings that uncovered, in the words of our report, \u201croaches in the operating room, leaking ceilings, essentially unmonitored vital signs, overworked nurses, overcrowded emergency rooms, closed departments and other threats to patient health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Or you may receive care at a facility owned or controlled by private equity interests. One cautionary tale is Prospect Medical Holdings, which operated hospitals and other health facilities in multiple states and was driven into bankruptcy after it was acquired by a private equity firm that extracted over $650 million in debt-financed dividends from the targeted company. While the private equity partners enjoyed lucrative payouts, patients suffered from unsanitary conditions, supply shortages, insufficient staffing, and shuttered departments.<\/p>\n Our diagnosis is simple but serious. The harmful behaviors of profit-driven healthcare companies\u2013from tax dodging to insurance denials to carelessness with patient safety\u2013stem from the same illness: a disregard for the community they serve. We must demand more transparency, fairer tax policy and better oversight of these institutions. That means closing tax loopholes, raising the corporate tax rate, curbing the routine denials of coverage, and strengthening regulatory oversight of health facilities. That\u2019s the only way to ensure that people\u2019s needs are prioritized over corporate profits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: At a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our\u00a0independent journalism by contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send a check to our new PO Box. We can\u2019t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.<\/p>\n You can also make a donation to our\u00a0PayPal<\/a>\u00a0or subscribe to our\u00a0Patreon<\/a>.<\/p>\n William Rice<\/p>\n William Rice is a policy consultant with Americans for Tax Fairness, where he is senior writer and the director of reports. Miriam Straus<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WILLIAM-RICE-400x400-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Miriam-Straus-Headshot-400x400-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n