Rein in Private Equity's Hold on Healthcare

I am your constituent and I want you to know that the Senate Budget Committee just released a report detailing how private equity investment in healthcare harms patients. Here is a link to that report, https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/profits_over_patients_the_harmful_effects_of_private_equity_on_the_ushealthcaresystem1.pdf. It is a complicated situation but when private equity acquires a healthcare facility, they restructure it into a vertically integrated chain of businesses all required to funnel profits to the top. Less profitable medical functions, like ob/gyn, are often discarded harming rural communities. One hospital in New Mexico, demanded upfront payment for chemotherapy for cancer patients, whether they had insurance or not (Source: NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/cancer-patients-say-new-mexico-hospital-turned-them-away-rcna147184) There was a bill in the last Congress to address the harm PE is causing and I want you to urge its reintroduction and get it passed so your constituents have some protection when they need it most. The bill was S.5333/H.R.9985 the Stop Wall Street Looting Act. Here is what it would have done: Require investment funds to have ‘skin in the game’: Forcing private equity firms and their partners to be on the hook for the liabilities of companies under their control, including debt, legal judgments and pension-related obligations. End ‘looting’ of portfolio companies: Limiting how much private equity firms can extract from companies and closing the loophole that PE firms have used to hide assets from bankruptcy courts. Protect workers, customers and communities: Preventing PE firms from walking away when a company fails and shielding employees from the consequences. This would include prioritizing workers’ pay in the bankruptcy process. Empower investors by increasing transparency: Requiring PE firms to disclose any fees, returns and other information about their funds and the corporate loans they make so that investors can monitor their money decisions. Put guardrails around accessing public funds: Forcing firms receiving any money from federal or state agencies to publicly disclose how these dollars are being used. Drive REITs out of healthcare: Prohibiting payments from federal health programs to entities that sell assets or use them for loan collateral made to a real estate investment trust. Please help all of us and protect us from Private Equity’s degradation of the healthcare system in our country. Thank you. https://dl-rapidbot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/1/c4e1/47b5/c4e147b5-6938-40dd-98bc-5af3f9c2ddc1.php