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House lawmakers are launching a congressional investigation into two major hospital systems amid allegations they allowed wealthy foreign patients to bypass U.S. organ transplant waiting lists, as more than 100,000 Americans remain on those lists and thousands die each year waiting for life-saving organs.
Reps. Jason Smith, R-Mo., and David Schweikert, R-Ariz., who lead the House Ways and Means Committee’s oversight effort, sent letters Tuesday to the University of Chicago Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center in New York demanding records by Feb. 10 and warning they will issue subpoenas if the hospitals fail to comply.
The allegations, first reported by the New York Times, claim the tax-exempt hospitals transplanted organs procured from American donors into foreign nationals who traveled to the U.S. specifically to receive transplants, effectively jumping ahead of U.S. patients. Smith and Schweikert said the alleged conduct likely bypassed Americans on transplant waiting lists, potentially resulting in loss of life.
Smith said the allegations strike at the core of what tax-exempt hospitals are supposed to represent and could trigger a broader review of whether those benefits should continue.
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House lawmakers launched a congressional investigation into major hospitals accused of allowing wealthy foreign patients to bypass U.S. organ transplant waiting lists as Americans waited. (iStock)
“If U.S. hospitals who enjoy lucrative taxpayer-funded benefits have prioritized foreign nationals for organ transplants over saving American lives, they should have their tax-exempt status terminated,” Smith said. “America First means prioritizing American lives, not your bottom line. The Ways and Means Committee will leave no stone unturned and is prepared to utilize every tool at our disposal, including subpoenas, in pursuit of the…
