Vermont for Single Payer

11/14/2025

https://www.theregreview.org/2025/11/08/seminar-when-wall-street-owns-the-hospital/
“Private equity’s health care footprint has expanded dramatically. As of 2023, private equity firms owned or operated approximately 11 percent of U.S. hospitals and 30 percent of for-profit hospitals. These firms also control significant portions of emergency physician staffing companies, anesthesiology practices, and specialty care facilities.
“Existing regulatory framework on health care—designed for traditional nonprofit and community hospitals—lacks the tools to address private equity’s extraction strategies. The Affordable Care Act, Medicare conditions of participation (federal requirements that hospitals must meet to receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements), and state licensure requirements focus primarily on quality metrics and operational standards rather than ownership structures or financial engineering practices that can undermine patient care.
“Recent state efforts signal growing recognition of this regulatory gap. Massachusetts enacted groundbreaking legislation in 2025 requiring enhanced scrutiny of private equity health care transactions, including 60-day advance notice, disclosure of debt levels and management fees, and ongoing reporting of quality metrics. Similarly, Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey has proposed federal legislation that would increase transparency requirements and limit certain extraction practices.”

Private equity exploits regulatory gaps to extract billions from healthcare while patients suffer.

11/14/2025

11/11/2025

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2023-08-08/health-insurance-barriers-delay-disrupt-and-deny-patient-care
“Health insurance should be a bridge to medical care, not a barrier. Yet too many commercial health insurance policies often delay, disrupt and deny medically necessary care to patients.”

Patients and clinicians suffer when insurers disregard medical counsel and impose inefficient administrative policies.

11/11/2025

Who needs healthcare reform when you have....

11/10/2025

https://lowninstitute.org/how-long-does-it-take-to-book-a-new-patient-appointment-with-a-primary-care-doc-in-greater-boston-we-called-to-find-out/
“Researchers asked schedulers some variation of the following question:
Hello! I’m shopping around for a new doctor. I’m looking to schedule an annual physical. How far out are you currently scheduling?
“Between July 23 and August 13, 2025, during standard weekday office hours (9 a.m.–5 p.m.), our team contacted 86 hospitals or affiliated primary care offices. On average, researchers spent four minutes on the phone verifying an available appointment time.

“Here’s what happened:
“26% of providers were not taking new patients
…
“Among the 46 offices that had available initial appointments, wait times varied considerably. The average wait time was 3.25 months (higher than the 40-day average wait found in the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s report earlier this year). However, some offices had appointments available within a month while others had an eight month wait time.”

We called 86 hospitals and primary care offices to see how long it would take to get a new patient appointment. Here's what we found.

11/09/2025

When Healthcare is Just a Business....
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00493
“Hospital and private equity (PE) consolidation in health care is altering the physician practice landscape, with more than three-quarters of physicians employed by these corporate entities as of 2023. We examined practice affiliation patterns for specialist physicians and those patterns’ association with commercial prices for cardiology and gastroenterology services. We found that in 2023, the majority of specialists (approximately 72 percent of cardiologists and 57 percent of gastroenterologists) were employed by hospitals, whereas PE-affiliated specialists constituted a lower share and were concentrated in certain geographic regions.
“Hospital-affiliated specialists negotiated prices that were 16.3 percent higher for cardiology procedures and 20.7 percent higher for gastroenterology procedures compared with specialists in independent practices. PE-affiliated specialists negotiated prices that were 6.0 percent higher for cardiology and 10.0 percent higher for gastroenterology procedures.”

Hospital and private equity (PE) consolidation in health care is altering the physician practice landscape, with more than three-quarters of physicians employed by these corporate entities as of 2023. We examined practice affiliation patterns for specialist physicians and those patterns’ associati...