Tax-Exempt Hospitals Spend Just as Much on Charity Care as For-Profits

Nonprofit hospitals get billions of dollars in tax breaks every year, but a new study shows that they may not be giving back very much to communities in return, as intended by law.

The study, out of the University of California San Francisco, found that some tax-exempt hospitals are spending as much on free or subsidized care as their for-profit counterparts. The authors say that's because the criteria to have tax-exempt status is vague, specifically under the Affordable Care Act.

Tax breaks for hospitals have been a highly contentious policy point in the health-care world. The most recent data show that nonprofits received about $24.6 billion in tax breaks at all levels of government in 2011, a number which has skyrocketed over the past decade.