OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Sal Rosselli, president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West, issued the following statement in response to Assemblymember Johan Klehs' announcement that the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee will hold an oversight hearing to review the practices of tax-exempt hospitals, with special attention to those hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health.
"We applaud Assemblymember Klehs and the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee for launching this important investigation into Sutter Health's apparent abuse of its tax-exempt status.
"California's Assembly leaders now join the growing chorus of government officials, including the San Francisco Tax Assessor, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, who have determined that Sutter's outrageous conduct demands serious scrutiny.
"Sutter appears to be behaving in every way like a for-profit corporation. In fact, it has a network of for-profit subsidiaries, even a wholly owned collection agency in Modesto. We urge the Revenue and Taxation Committee to take a hard look at the full range of Sutter's shameful record, which includes:
-- Using tax-exempt bonds to expand its market share in lucrative locales and in profitable procedures, when such financing was intended to reduce prices; -- Shutting down less profitable services and methodically slashing charity care; -- Price-gouging the uninsured and using heavy-handed collection methods; -- Exploiting its market dominance to drive up health care costs for all consumers.
"Sutter has amassed enormous profits, built a massive investment portfolio, and enriched its executives by systematically slighting its patients and its caregivers, who were illegally locked out last December and who are struggling to gain a voice in staffing decisions and a training fund.
"Our communities deserve better. Every taxpayer in California is being cheated when supposedly 'not-for-profit' hospitals have business plans based upon decreasing access and increasing costs. "We urge Sutter to cooperate in this investigation and pledge our assistance to bring all of Sutter's troubling practices to light."
The 140,000-member SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West is the largest healthcare union in the western United States and represents every type of healthcare worker, including nurses, professional, technical and service workers.
Contact: Thea Lavin
510-520-7732
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-WestCONTACT: Thea Lavin of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,+1-510-520-7732
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
