Indiana lawmakers are pushing to slash hospital prices after a Guardian investigation chronicled how one of the state’s largest non-profit hospital chains bought up its competition and used its market power to stick patients with some of the highest bills in the country.

A new bill introduced last week in the Indiana general assembly would strip non-profit hospitals of their tax-free status if they continue to charge commercially insured patients more than 200% of what the federal government pays for the same services under Medicare.

If enacted, the legislation would mean millions annually in tax obligations for Parkview Health, the Fort Wayne-based non-profit hospital chain investigated by the Guardian, should it choose to maintain its high prices. Between 2011 and 2023, Parkview charged commercially insured patients an estimated 233% of the Medicare’s reimbursement rate on average, one of the highest price levels in the country, despite its location in greater Fort Wayne, which currently ranks as the No 1 most affordable metro area to live in the United States.

The Guardian’s investigation into Parkview Health sparked a firestorm in Fort Wayne with hundreds of patients and small business owners complaining on social media, to the Guardian and to local news outlets about their struggles with the charity hospital chain’s high prices.

In a statement, the Republican representative Martin Carbaugh, the bill’s author, said he hoped his proposal would help address the public outcry by holding large non-profit hospitals like the Fort Wayne system accountable.

“Indiana has a high cost of healthcare problem and when you look closer at the numbers we see some of our highest-costing hospitals that are driving this issue are our large non-profit hospitals,” said Carbaugh. “Any not-for-profit hospital that continues to charge more than 200% of the Medicare reimbursement rate for a service or item will lose their not-for-profit