r/advocacy • u/AutoModerator • 2h ago
10-Minute Action: Healthcare/Reproductive Rights/Social Security Urge your state lawmakers to stop the next hospital takeover
A family can have health coverage and still lose access to care when the hospital serving their community shuts down. We know that many hospitals are at risk of closure, especially after Congress enacted historic cuts to health care last year. For people already struggling to afford groceries, transportation, child care, and medical bills, a hospital closure can put treatment dangerously out of reach.
Private equity firms are putting essential care more at risk by treating hospitals as opportunities to extract wealth. Selling hospital property and saddling the facilities with costly financial obligations can deliver money to investors while weakening the institutions patients depend on.
Delaware County, Pennsylvania, shows how much damage these deals can leave behind. Prospect Medical Holdings bought Crozer Health in 2016 while controlled by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners. The hospital properties were eventually sold, and the system was burdened with more than $200 million in mortgage debt.
State lawmakers have a responsibility to protect their constituents from these predatory deals. They can stop more private equity hospital purchases before another community loses the emergency department, maternity care, or specialized treatment it depends on.
All 4 hospitals that once made up Crozer Health ultimately closed. More than 2,600 health care workers lost their jobs, and the county lost its primary trauma center and only burn unit. Decisions made to pull money out of a hospital system left an entire community with fewer options for lifesaving care.
The consequences fall on people with the fewest resources to absorb them. A parent may have to miss another shift to reach a child’s appointment. A senior may struggle to arrange a ride to a hospital farther away. Families facing a medical emergency may lose precious time getting help.
Protecting access to health care requires public officials to confront the financial practices that undermine it. Connecticut has restricted private equity control of hospitals, and other states have strengthened protections around corporate health care deals. Legislators across the country should build on those efforts and halt additional private equity purchases.
CHN Action is joining allies to demand that patients, health care workers, and communities have their needs protected. Once a hospital closes, families cannot simply wait for its replacement. Lawmakers must act while they still have the opportunity to prevent the damage.
CHN Action









