Private Equity Damages Healthcare - We Can Help
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A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare
If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below. Two stories in work - one on medical claims denials and the other on psychiatric care.
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Garlic and Health - FYI :)
A new review and meta-analysis of existing studies set out to find how garlic may impact certain aspects of health. The scientists were interested in how garlic consumption can affect cholesterol, blood sugar, and triglyceride levels. The scientists found an association between the garlic intervention and lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The researchers believe garlic has the potential to become a therapeutic option for people with lipid and glucose metabolism disorders.
The CDC also reports that around 86 million adults 20 years and older in the U.S. have elevated cholesterol levels. This can lead to developing heart disease or having a stroke.
The researchers, based in China, extracted data from 29 trials to see how garlic impacts cholesterol, blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and triglycerides. The researchers in the various trials administered garlic in different forms: garlic powder, garlic oil, aged garlic extract, garlic powder pill or tablet, garlic extract capsule, or raw garlic.
Depending on the trial, some participants consumed 300 to 22,400 milligrams (mg) of garlic powder per day, while other preparations ranged from 800 to 4,200 mg daily.
Garlic supplementation lowered fasting blood glucose levels, HbA1c, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol — also referred to as “bad cholesterol.”
Additionally, the garlic intervention increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, also known as “good cholesterol.” However, no impact on triglycerides.(Medical News Today)
For Profit Hospital Refuses to Treat Patients with the Wrong Insurance :(
I am so saddened to report this story. We have discussed private equity in healthcare and how it leads to worse outcomes for patients in hospitals, generally. More slips and falls, more infections and the like.
Now comes a story from Las Cruces New Mexico. Memorial medical Center, which used to be a public, non profit community hospital was purchased by Lifepoint - which is a private equity company owned by Apollo, one of the giants in private equity hospitals. Check the Lifepoint link - 60 hospitals 50,000 employees. A good sized concern.
Back to New Mexico. Memorial hospital is now for profit and if they don’t like your insurance - they turn you away.
Barbara Quarrell was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, she headed to Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she had cared for patients for years as a nurse. However, the hospital wouldn't take her insurance, so she was denied care there, NBC News reported.
The news outlet provided Memorial with the names of 9 patients who said they were turned away or had to pay up front for care. Three more patients who had reported similar experiences asked not to be identified, and another was deceased, the outlet reported. (MedPage Today)
The hospital claims they turn no one away - the evidence suggests a different reality.
Private Equity - Hold Them Accountable
Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, introduced legislation this week that would result in prison time for those who exploit the system for profit and endanger patients. IT IS ABOUT TIME.
The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act would also offer state attorneys general and the U.S. Justice Department more tools to go after health care executives accused of corporate exploitation for endangering patient safety and access to health care, according to a press release.
Over the last decade, private equity fund assets have more than doubled, totaling $8.2 trillion in 2023. While private equity funds have purchased companies in nearly every sector of the economy, their aggressive deal-making in the health care sector poses grave risks to patient health and raises questions about potential abuse of taxpayer dollars, as private equity companies routinely load up portfolio companies with usurious debt, sell off valuable assets, and extract exorbitant dividends and fees—regardless of how their investments preform.
Unfortunately, lax corporate accountability and transparency laws have provided cover for private equity’s parasitic practices, allowing executives to plunder hospitals, nursing homes, provider practices, and other health care entities with impunity.
The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act will:
Create a new criminal penalty of up to 6 years in prison for executives who loot health care entities like nursing homes and hospitals, if that looting results in a patient’s death.
Provide state attorneys general and the DOJ with the power to claw back all compensation, including salaries, issued to private equity and portfolio company executives within a 10-year period before or after an acquired health care firm experiences serious, avoidable financial difficulties due to that looting.
Authorize an associated civil penalty of up to 5 times the clawback amount.
Prohibit payments from federal health programs to entities that sell assets or use assets for a loan collateral made to a REIT, with an exemption for current arrangements; repeal a rule in the Tax Code that allows taxable REIT subsidiaries to exert influence on the operations of health care entities; and remove the 20 percent pass-through deduction, passed in the 2017 Trump tax cuts, for all REIT investors.
ACTION
Let’s let our Senators know we are fed up with private equity screwing up healthcare. You can contact yours at https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials and ask them to cosponsor and support the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act.
Or Use RESISTBOT on your cellphone and text SIGN PALCNO to 50409 to send this message.
“I am your constituent and I just learned and want you to know that when private equity purchases a hospital, patients suffer. The number of falls, and infections dramatically increases. When private equity buys a nursing home the death rate goes up by 10% in one year. I also just learned of a public hospital in New Mexico sold to Lifepoint (a private equity run medical company) and they have been turning away patients whose insurance they do not prefer - according the NBC news.
All of this stinks and I want you to do something. There is a new bill in the Senate called Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act - it would fix these problems by ensuring there was financial and criminal liability for mistreating patients while squeezing every last dime out of a newly purchased facility. I want you to cosponsor it and talk to other senators and get them on board. It is time that we we did something about this egregious situation.”
Medical Debt :)
I know many of you have read about the new Biden Administration proposed rule at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to exclude medical debt from credit scores. The proposed rule was publicly released on June 11, 2024. I have a longer article on the subject prepared but I am waiting for the comment period on the rule to open up so we can take positive action. FYI comments will be accepted to August 12, 2024
First let me say that it is being presented in the news media as sort of a git to consumers. IT IS NOT. the CPFB found (10 years ago) that medical debt is not a predictor of a consumers ability or willingness to satisfy debt and so for that reason it makes sense to remove it from credit scores. FOLLOWING THE DATA!!!
Anyway, If you want to read the rule here it is. Too Long? Ok here is the summary.
The docket identifier for the proposed rule is [Docket No. CFPB-2024-0023]. As soon as the comment field opens up on https://www.regulations.gov/ I will post a link to it so we can let the government know we think this is a good idea.
Resources
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
Learn About Healthcare Policy
The Kaiser Family Foundation has put together an online course about healthcare policy. It is called Health Policy 101. It is free and here is the link to their course page. I will keep this note here for a few days.
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Elderly training for nurses, elder care workers, aides and doctors, when patients are old not ill.