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.