Connecticut’s Charity Care Con

An article in the Connecticut Mirror details a report on charity care from Connecticut’s Office of Health Strategy detailing the lack of community benefit spending from non-profit hospitals despite the financial benefits they receive to encourage community spending. From 2017 to 2022, community benefit spending increased slightly, from $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion; however, as a share of total spending, community spending decreased from 15.8% to 11.8%. Charity care as a whole has decreased by 25% from 2017 to 2022, meaning less affordable care is available to those who need it. When charity care is available, it alleviates some of the financial and emotional stress medical care can place on families, especially low-income families and families of color.

A key reason for these spending differences is the lack of standardization in charity care across hospitals, meaning some hospitals or healthcare providers exclude certain services under charity care. Standardization of these policies would benefit patients by streamlining eligible services and reinvesting in the communities the program is designed to help. Read more here.