FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shannon Cunningham
(c) 651-269-1418
shannon.cunningham@mnnurses.org
(St. Paul) – May 20, 2025 – Nurses and community members across the Twin Cities are raising urgent concerns over worsening patient care and understaffing in local hospitals—even as the major health systems benefiting from tax-exempt status fail to meet their basic obligations to the public.
Since the 1950s, hospitals have been required to give back to their communities with the savings they receive in lieu of paying taxes. Yet, a new report by the Minnesota Nurses Association and National Nurses United found that major Minnesota hospitals are breaking their bargain with the public.
Money for Nothing? How Minnesota’s Not-for-profit Hospital Systems Profit from Their Tax-Exempt Status shows how taxpayers are getting short changed and publicly funded hospitals are leveraging a taxpayer benefit to bolster profits. From 2018 to 2022, Twin Cities-based systems including Allina Health, Fairview Health Services, and HealthPartners received nearly $4 billion in tax exemptions, yet provided just a fraction of that—$607 million—in charity care statewide.
Despite record revenues, hospitals like Allina and Fairview have repeatedly cut services and failed to hire enough nurses to meet patient demand. Yet, both systems are responsible for a large portion of medical debt lawsuits in Minnesota.
“This is corporate behavior in charitable clothing,” said Chris Rubesch, RN and MNA President. “If these systems want the benefits of being tax-exempt, then they need to start acting like it—by investing in the charitable care our communities need.”
Since 2013, the average percentage of hospital expenses spent on charity care has been nearly cut in half, dropping from 0.78 percent to just 0.41 percent in 2022 across Twin Cities and Duluth systems. Allina Health has received the largest tax breaks but has returned only 10 percent of those savings back to the community, for an $820 million loss to the public. At the same time, studies prove understaffing nurses leads to longer wait times, increased workplace injuries, avoidable complications and higher healthcare costs.
“I didn’t become a nurse to rush patients through care or leave them alone when they’re scared,” said Jessica Busselman, RN at Abbott Northwestern, RN, “But hospital leadership keeps asking us to do more with less—while they build new towers and collect bonuses. That’s not care. That’s exploitation.”
MNA nurses are currently in contract negotiations with multiple metro hospitals, asking for reasonable staffing levels that keep both patients and nurses safe. They’re calling on local leaders, lawmakers, and taxpayers to hold hospitals accountable for the care communities were promised.
“This is about restoring trust,” said Rubesch. “Taxpayers are footing the bill and funding these hospitals. Nurses are keeping them running. The least they can do is put people before profits.”