As someone who works in tech consulting with lots of private equity owned companies, this shit has to stop. They’re segmenting healthcare in a way that is just destroying quality of care. I’m by no means a proponent of the mass consolidation that was happening post Obamacare but having for profit companies carve out specialty care and over charge insurance companies for the privilege while fucking the patients is not the answer. Healthcare needs to be a non for profit endeavor where schooling is affordable, pay isn’t absurd, and services are subsequently affordable for patients.
Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Thursday introduced legislation...
The Health Over Wealth Act would increase the powers of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to monitor and block private equity deals in the healthcare industry. It would require private equity firms buying healthcare providers to set up escrow accounts large enough to fund five years of operations, and would require more transparency on debt, executive pay, and other financial data, while prohibiting the "stripping" of assets.
Editorial: Five years of cash flow with no asset stripping greatly increases barrier to entry and operational cost. While it may decrease the frequency of bullshit, patient cost will simply rise across the board in response. Markey & Jayapal propose a piece of a solution that they'd like to build upon. Literally no one wants this bill to pass as it is.
Five years of cash flow with no asset stripping greatly increases barrier to entry
That's the whole point: it's meant to disincentivise private equity from seeing healthcare as a business like all others that they can destroy for profit.
patient cost will simply rise across the board in response
Not if it's enforced strictly enough that private equity stays away entirely, see above.
Literally no one wants this bill to pass as it is.
I and probably millions of others would. Healthcare is a basic human need and should never be at the mercy of asset stripping profit vultures.
None of the rules are inherently unreasonable. That they're still considered strict enough to be a barrier speaks volumes about the predatory practices of private equity.