Newsweek Discovers 'Regulation' After Private Equity Plunders Healthcare
Newsweek heralds a 'sweeping' wave of private equity regulation in healthcare, a feel-good narrative almost believable. What the article politely omits is that this 'wave' rolls in after private equity firms have already injected over $1 trillion into healthcare since 2000, according to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. These aren't just investments; they're asset-stripping sagas that hike
costs, cut services, and leave patients, not to mention taxpayers, holding the emptied bag. Regulatory action now? One might wonder if the barn door is being heroically latched after the horses have been sold for parts. We are consistently told the invisible hand of the market knows best, until the market's invisible hand is caught with its entire arm in the cookie jar. This 'sweeping' national
consensus on regulation only emerges once the systematic extraction of wealth is complete, and the patient safety records are too grim to ignore (see: widespread bankruptcies, staffing cuts leading to worsened care discussed by JAMA). How many crises must be engineered by unchecked profit motives before mainstream media acknowledges the 'sweeping' problem wasn't a sudden storm but a deliberate
climate change?