Kaiser Made $9.3 Billion Last Year. Critics Say It Has Strayed From Its Charitable Mission

Some labor called it nan “dash for cash.”

Months aft Kaiser Permanente doctors saw a patient, national prosecutors said, administrators pushed nan physicians to adhd new, mendacious diagnoses to nan aesculapian grounds successful a billion-dollar strategy to defraud nan government. Kaiser successful February paid $556 million to settee nan allegations.

“Deliberately inflating test codes to boost profits is simply a superior usurpation of nationalist trust,” said Scott Lambert, acting lawman inspector wide for nan U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Kaiser faced further scrutiny a period later erstwhile nan nonprofit healthcare elephantine paid $30 cardinal to settee different lawsuit brought by national investigators, this 1 involving claims it had grounded for years to supply patients pinch capable entree to intelligence wellness care.

Kaiser said it settled nan fraud lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing. It said nan intelligence wellness colony did not impact its existent practices.

Yet critics person pointed to nan repeated ineligible payouts, saying they bespeak really Kaiser has veered from its charitable ngo successful caller years and is now virtually indistinguishable from its for-profit competitors keenly focused connected nan bottommost line.

That displacement has besides fueled caller tensions pinch its employees, who person complained astir inadequate resources to reside staffing shortages and diligent delays.

“Their attraction is connected profit and successful doing much pinch less,” said Kadi Gonzalez, a caregiver who useful successful Kaiser’s obstetrics and gynecology session successful Downey. Gonzalez was 1 of much than 30,000 nurses and different Kaiser professionals who walked retired successful a four-week strike that ended past month.

The unions said their onslaught was arsenic overmuch astir staffing levels and diligent information arsenic it was astir wages.

“The much patients a caregiver has, nan higher nan mortality rate,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t person capable providers.”

The Oakland-based elephantine insures almost 1 of each 4 Californians. It operates arsenic some an insurer and a supplier of attraction successful a closed strategy that makes it difficult for patients to get curen elsewhere.

Kaiser declined to make its executives disposable for comment, but issued a connection disputing nan claims.

“Our charitable intent guides each determination we make,” nan connection said. “Driven by our mission, we connection amended attraction and sum to our members, put billions of dollars successful our communities each year, and activity to beforehand high-quality, affordable, equitable, evidence-based attraction successful communities crossed nan country.”

The connection added that its hospitals are “among nan champion staffed successful California” and that staffing levels ever meet aliases transcend authorities requirements.

A surge successful profits

Founded successful 1945, Kaiser has agelong gained nationalist attraction for its managed attraction exemplary and attraction connected preventative care.

The nonprofit says its ngo is “to supply high-quality, affordable wellness attraction services and to amended nan wellness of our members and nan communities we serve.”

The Kaiser strategy — nan largest healthcare nonprofit successful nan state — serves 9.5 cardinal Californians. The Times offers Kaiser security to its employees.

Last year, Kaiser took successful much than $127 cardinal successful revenue, earning a profit of $9.3 billion. The nett income was chiefly from investments, pinch a smaller stock ($1.4 billion) from its sprawling operations arsenic good arsenic security premiums.

Kaiser has continued to hike its security premiums faster than inflation.

In 2025, premiums increased an mean of 5.1% successful Southern California and 8.2% successful Northern California, according to Beere & Purves, a wide security agency. In January, it raised them by different 6.5% successful Southern California and 7.1% successful nan bluish portion of nan state.

Kaiser has been quickly expanding nationwide. It now has hospitals and clinics successful astatine slightest 10 states and nan District of Columbia, immoderate operating nether a abstracted nonprofit that it created successful 2023 called Risant Health.

Kaiser said successful its connection that D.C.-based Risant “is a measurement for america to grow entree to high-quality, affordable attraction to millions much people, successful fulfillment of our mission.”

“As a nonprofit, immoderate returns are reinvested backmost into diligent care, infrastructure, workforce benefits, and organization wellness programs—not distributed to shareholders,” it said.

Kaiser said that its yearly premium increases were “generally lower” than its competitors.

The surge of money has accrued Kaiser’s reserve of rate and investments, which reached $73 cardinal successful 2025 — 68% higher than successful 2019, according to its financial statements.

Because Kaiser is registered arsenic a charity, it pays nary taxes connected its profits aliases its extended existent property holdings. After a caller buying spree, nan nonprofit strategy said it had 847 aesculapian offices and 55 hospitals astatine nan extremity of 2025.

The limb of Kaiser that operates its hospitals and clinics avoided $784 cardinal successful national income tax, $372 cardinal successful authorities income taxation and $204 cardinal successful spot taxation successful 2024, according to an study by nan Lown Institute, a healthcare deliberation tank.

In all, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals received astir $1.5 cardinal successful taxation and different benefits by registering arsenic a charity, nan institute calculated.

Laws exempt nonprofits from paying taxes pinch nan presumption they will springiness backmost to nan community.

In 2024, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals provided $963 cardinal successful diligent financial assistance and contributions to organization wellness programs, but that still fell short of its taxation use by much than $500 million, according to nan Lown Institute.

Dr. Vikas Saini, nan institute’s president, said that magnitude of money could thief lick a myriad of California’s societal problems.

“If they closed that gap, what would that $500 cardinal get you?” he asked.

In a 2024 study, nan institute recovered that Kaiser had nan largest spread betwixt its taxation benefits and charitable spending of immoderate of nan nation’s nonprofit infirmary systems.

Kaiser said successful its connection that its mixed charitable spending was acold much than nan institute’s calculation for its infirmary arm. It said it not only provided patients pinch financial assistance, but besides spent money connected affordable housing, nutrient access, organization wellness and disaster betterment — efforts that totaled $5.3 cardinal past year.

After nan January 2025 wildfires, Kaiser said it provided 2,400 households pinch financial assistance, opened removal centers, deployed mobile wellness vehicles and provided intelligence wellness services to victims.

“We person ne'er been prouder of really we are delivering connected our ngo for nan nationalist good,” nan connection said.

As Kaiser has grown, truthful has compensation for its apical executives, which is among nan highest of each California nonprofits.

In 2024, Greg Adams, Kaiser’s main executive, was paid astir $13 million, according to its filings. At slightest 40 different executives received full compensation of much than $1 cardinal that year.

The nonprofit has a committee of board of much than a twelve members, pinch each but a fewer receiving $250,000 aliases much a year, according to nan filing.

The committee helps to oversee Kaiser’s fast-growing operations arsenic good arsenic its $73-billion financial reserve, which healthcare advocates and experts person said is acold higher than its competitors and nan level nan authorities requires.

“I’m flabbergasted,” Saini said erstwhile told of nan reserve’s size. “Who decides really large of a reserve is enough?”

Kaiser said it maintained nan ample financial reserve “to guarantee semipermanent stability, negociate emergencies, support awesome superior investments, and support our people’s status benefits.”

And it said elder managers were paid little than astir for-profit wellness plans.

Patients delays, staffing shortages

Some longtime Kaiser members person near for different insurers, citing a diminution successful care.

Mark Schubb, a Santa Monica resident, had been a Kaiser personnel since 1995. He said he near successful 2022 aft experiencing months-long delays to sojourn his superior attraction expert and specialists.

When he complained, Schubb said, “the reply was, ‘Well, you tin ever spell to urgent care.’ “

Gonzalez, nan caregiver successful Downey, said patients often hold 3 months for an appointment. And erstwhile they yet get in, nan 20-minute assignment whitethorn beryllium double-booked, she said, leaving nan expert adjunct pinch 10 minutes to spot them.

“They tin hold months for an assignment and past they are rushed through,” she said. “Kaiser has nan resources to hole these things.”

In 1 case, 53-year-old Francisco Delgadillo arrived astatine nan Kaiser ER successful Vallejo, Calif., successful December 2023 pinch terrible thorax pain. After an first assessment, he waited 8 hours for care, according to authorities regulators.

He died successful nan lobby.

A authorities and national investigation recovered aggregate violations, including that Kaiser grounded to person a licensed caregiver monitoring nan dozens of patients successful nan ER’s waiting room.

Kaiser didn’t respond to a petition to remark connected nan decease but has disputed claims of inadequate staffing astatine its hospitals.

Complaints astir a deficiency of disposable intelligence wellness attraction spell backmost more than a decade.

In 2023, Kaiser agreed to a $200-million colony aft nan authorities recovered it had canceled tens of thousands of intelligence wellness appointments and grounded to supply timely care. The colony included a $50-million good — the largest nan authorities had ever levied against a wellness plan.

Garie Connell, a Kaiser therapist and licensed objective societal worker successful Encino, said nan strategy had been rationing intelligence wellness attraction for years, while earning large profits.

“They’ve really mislaid their way,” she said.

Kaiser said it had “made important investments to grow prime and entree to intelligence wellness attraction complete nan past respective years.” The healthcare supplier said it now has much than 35,000 employed and contracted clinicians delivering intelligence wellness and addiction care.

Unsupported diagnoses

Kaiser said that it settled nan alleged $1-billion fraud lawsuit past period to debar nan “cost of prolonged litigation” and that nan findings of national investigators progressive “a conflict regarding definite archiving practices.”

In their complaint, prosecutors alleged that Kaiser mined information to find imaginable diagnoses that could beryllium added to patients’ records to make them look sicker than they were. The patients were successful Kaiser’s Medicare Advantage plan, which received bigger authorities payments for patients pinch aggregate ailments.

Doctors were praised and fixed gifts, including bottles of champagne, nan title said, for agreeing to nan administrators’ requests to adhd nan diagnoses.

As 1 Kaiser descent successful an soul training convention explained, “Medicare Queries: Why Now?”

The descent past provided nan answer: “Diagnoses = Revenue.”