Public Citizen Urges DOJ, FTC, HHS To Address Greed in Health Care
Consolidation “Putting the Squeeze on Patients”
Washington, D.C. – Today Public Citizen urged the Biden administration to protect patients from profiteering by private equity, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies. In addition, Public Citizen also joined nearly 100 organizations and individuals in urging the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and U.S. Health and Human Services to address the role of private equity in healthcare consolidation.
Last year, Public Citizen analyzed the spread of public equity takeovers of hospitals, physicians offices, and other health care facilities, calling on Congress and the Biden administration to increase oversight and accountability for private equity firms in health care.
Public Citizen’s health care policy advocate Eagan Kemp released the following statement:
“Private equity is swallowing up U.S. health care whole and putting the squeeze on patients. Their sole aim is outrageous profits.
“Whether it’s private equity, insurance companies, or Big Pharma, Americans deserve to have health care that puts patients first.
“The U.S. consistently lags behind other wealthy countries when it comes to the quality of our profit-based health care system. More consolidation will only make things worse.
“There is much the Biden administration can and must do to address the national embarrassment that is for-profit health care in the U.S., and we appreciate this multi-agency effort to expose the problems associated with greed in health care. We are excited to work with the DOJ, FTC and HHS to create a health care system that centers patients instead of profits.”