Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente recorded a net income of $9.3 billion in 2025, drawing scrutiny from critics alleging that the nation’s largest private nonprofit system has moved away from its charitable mission in recent years, the Los Angeles Times reported March 29.
Six things to know:
1. The system’s net income came mainly from investments, according to the report. Kaiser reported an operating income of $1.4 billion (1.1% operating margin) in 2025, up from $569 million (0.5% margin) in 2024, while total operating revenue was $127.7 billion in 2025, up from $115.8 billion in 2024. Operating expenses were $126.3 billion compared to $115.2 billion in the prior year.
2. Kadi Gonzalez, RN, a nurse at a Kaiser-owned OB-GYN clinic, alleged the system’s “focus is on profit and in doing more with less,” according to the report. She was one of 30,000 nurses and other Kaiser professionals who participated in a four-week strike at Kaiser Permanente facilities in California and Hawaii that ended in February. The unions said the strike was about patient safety and staffing levels as much as it was about wages.
3. Kaiser said in a statement to the Times that its charitable mission guides every decision it makes. The system said it invests billions of dollars into communities each year and works to “advance high-quality, affordable, equitable, evidence-based care in communities across the country.” It added that its hospitals are among the best staffed in California and that staffing levels always meet or exceed state requirements.
4. A 2024 study from the Lown Institute found that Kaiser had the largest disparity between its tax benefits and charitable spending among the largest nonprofit systems in the U.S., according to the report. Kaiser provided $963 million in patient financial assistance and contributions to community health programs, but received about $1.5 billion in tax and other benefits by registering as a charity.
Kaiser told the Times that its combined charitable spending was far more than Lown’s calculations. Beyond financial assistance it also provided funds for affordable housing, food access, community health and disaster recovery. Kaiser said those efforts totaled $5.3 billion. The American Hospital Association also pushed back on the Lown Institute’s findings, arguing the report oversimplified complicated policy, payment and demographic realities that hospitals face.
5. Kaiser’s reserve of cash and investments reached $73 billion in 2025, which was 68% higher than in 2019, according to the report.
6. The scrutiny comes as Kaiser recently settled a pair of lawsuits. In January, it agreed to pay $556 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting invalid diagnosis codes for Medicare Advantage enrollees to obtain higher payments from the federal government. Kaiser said it chose to settle the case to avoid prolonged litigation.
In February it agreed to pay $28.3 million to resolve allegations its health plan failed to provide timely and appropriate access to mental health and substance use disorder services. Kaiser said the settlement does not involve current practices or issues and noted that over the past six years, surges in demand doubled behavioral health visit volume amid the pandemic. Kaiser also cited an ongoing shortage of qualified mental health professionals and a 10-week strike in 2023 by 2,000 mental health clinicians.
Editor’s note: Becker’s reached out for comment and will update the article if more info becomes available
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