By the end of June 2029, Indiana’s largest hospital systems must lower their prices to the state average or risk losing their tax-exempt status.
INDIANAPOLIS — Multiple national studies show Indiana has some of the highest hospital prices in the country.
But under a law passed last year, hospitals are now facing a deadline to bring those costs down.
By the end of June 2029, Indiana’s largest hospital systems must lower their prices to the state average or risk losing their tax-exempt status, which they receive as nonprofit organizations.
This week, Republican State Senator Travis Holdman is shining a spotlight on the issue, reviewing 2024 financial statements from Indiana’s largest hospital systems and questioning what they’re doing now to lower prices before that 2029 deadline.
Holdman isn’t the only one pushing for change.
The nonprofit group Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare says it has been working on the issue for the past five years and believes hospitals must first acknowledge their role in driving up costs.
“I just think it would be great for them to recognize that their primary obligation is to provide the highest possible quality health care at the lowest possible price. And we just don’t really see that happening. We see them providing quality health care — we don’t argue that — but we’ve been among the highest cost states in the country for several years, according to the independent RAND Corporation. And it’s time for them to acknowledge the problem,” said Devin Anderson with Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare.
Anderson says hospitals aren’t the only players who will face scrutiny about rising costs.
“Non-profit hospitals have been catching a lot of heat, rightly so. But there is definitely, definitely insurance companies have a huge role in this and I think you will see more emphasis on the insurance side in the coming times,” Anderson said.