Merkley, Colleagues Renew Push to Root Out Private Equity Abuse in Health Care, Strike Back Against Corporate Greed

“Sick patients should never be used to turn healthy profits.”
Text of Bill (PDF)|One Pager (PDF)
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley teamed up with his colleagues to introduce theCorporate Crimes Against Health Care Actto root out corporate greed and private equity abuse in the health care system.
“Sick patients should never be used to turn healthy profits. But that’s exactly what is happening in Oregon and across the nation as greedy corporate executives turn hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors’ offices into profit centers,”saidMerkley. “We must crack down on private equity, whose greed is destroying our health care system for executives’ personal profit, while patients are stuck footing the bill.”
Merkley has long warned about the corporate takeover of health care. Earlier this Congress, he introduced new legislation to tackle corporate greed in health care—thePatients Over Profits Act—to crack down on health insurers and their subsidiaries who are buying up clinics and physician practices—a trend that reduces competition, drives up costs, and limits patient choice.
TheCorporate Crimes Against Health Care Actholds private equity firms and corporate executives accountable and empowers regulators to protect patients from private equityplunderinghospitals, nursing homes, provider practices, and other health care entities with impunity.
Over the last decade, private equity fund assets have more thandoubled, totaling$8.2 trillionin 2023. While private equity companies have purchased businesses in nearly every sector of the economy, their aggressive deal-making in the health care sector poses grave risks to patient health outcomes and raises fundamental concerns regarding the role of corporate interests in our health care system. Private equity companies routinely saddle companies they acquire with massive debt, sell off valuable assets, and extract exorbitant dividends and fees.
As a result, laxcorporateaccountability and transparency laws have provided cover for private equity’s parasitic practices.
TheCorporate Crimes Against Health Care Actwould:

TheCorporate Crimes Against Health Care Actwas led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.). In addition to Merkley, this bill was cosponsored by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
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