MorseLife to pay $1.75 million after giving COVID vaccines to rich donors ahead of patients

WEST PALM BEACH — MorseLife, a high-end nursing home, will pay a $1.75 million settlement after being accused of illegally giving some of the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccines to its wealthy donors instead of the vulnerable patients and staff they were meant for, federal investigators said last week.

The bosses of MorseLife Health System, a nonprofit nursing home on David S. Mack Drive just south of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, had ordered the inoculation of hundreds of well-connected, well-off benefactors in late December 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

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At a time when the nation was in the midst of its deadliest wave of COVID infections yet, the first vaccines available to the public had been reserved for those most susceptible to the disease – elderly nursing home patients and the medical staff caring for them.

But MorseLife, a self-described “luxury” long-term care facility, allowed “some of the richest people in the country” to skip ahead of those who most needed immunization, text messages obtained by federal investigators show.

“Of course go after the billionaires first,” MorseLife CEO Keith Myers wrote in a text message to an employee of the nonprofit’s fundraising foundation. Myers and other executives aren’t named in the Justice Department’s statement, as is usual practice for the agency, but they are listed on the company’s tax filings.

“I have delivered you 350 of the richest people in the country,” Myers texted. “Do not be weak be strong you have the opportunity to take advantage of everyone who needs the shot and figure out what they have and what we can go after.”

Donors and employees told The Palm Beach Post at the time that MorseLife had directed staff to inoculate affluent donors first.

MorseLife had ordered the vaccines in October 2020 as part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program. Out of 976 people inoculated as of Dec. 31, 2020, the majority of recipients – 567 of them – were ineligible, the Justice Department said. They were not employed by the company, nor did they work for it.

'Significant number' of recipients from Palm Beach Country Club 

MorseLife Vice Chairman David Mack and his brother invited 290 people to the facility to get vaccinated, investigators said, including a “significant number” from Palm Beach Country Club, where they are members.

That group of ineligible recipients “owe allegiance” to Mack and his brother, MorseLife Foundation documents said. “We should use that allegiance to effectively get significant gifts from that group in a short amount of time.”

The five MorseLife nonprofits listing Myers as chief executive made more than $107 million during the year ending May 2020, the nonprofits’ latest publicly available tax filings show.

MorseLife Health System, the entity that was investigated, alone brought in more than $12.9 million.

Myers did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment. He earned nearly $1.5 million, mostly from MorseLife Health System. He and his wife bought a home in the Admirals Cove neighborhood of Jupiter for $5.5 million in October.

“MorseLife strongly denies the allegations set forth by the government but chose to settle this matter to avoid the expense and distraction of protracted litigation,” nursing home spokesperson Rebecca Houck said Friday in a statement. “Any nursing home resident or staff member who wanted the vaccine and was eligible according to federal and state guidelines at that time received it free of charge.”

“The Vice Chairman and his brother,” the statement said, “acted in the best interest of the community to prevent the spread of COVID-19.” The company did not explain how vaccinating members of Palm Beach island’s country club benefited “the community.”

Gov. DeSantis said state would investigate

The settlement MorseLife Health System agreed to pay represents more than 13% of its 2019-2020 revenue, and less than 2% of that of all the nonprofits combined.

MorseLife is a member of LeadingAge Florida, a statewide nursing home association. The organization did not comment Friday on how it reacted to the settlement or if it would take action against MorseLife.

When donors and staff first told news outlets in January 2021 about what MorseLife was doing, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the state would investigate. Representatives for Florida’s inspector general and the Department of Health did not respond Friday afternoon to questions seeking updates on state probes.

Myers is listed in state campaign finance records as chairman of the Morse Life Good Government Political Action Committee. It has given $274,500, mostly in support of Republican causes, since it formed in 2020.

Its contributions include $50,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and $45,000 to the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Email him at cpersaud@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: MorseLife nursing home to pay after wealthy donors got vaccines first