A WAKE-UP CALL FOR TEXAS LAWMAKERS
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget released a bipartisan report, titled, Profits over Patients: The harmful effects of private equity on the U.S. health care system. The report details the results of an investigation led by Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ranking Member Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) that expanded on a previous inquiry by Sen. Grassley in 2023..
The report serves as a wake-up call for Texas lawmakers — not to take action against private equity, but to address the root causes of artificially inflated hospital prices that make health care so attractive to private equity firms in the first place.
MedCity News: How Can Employers Manage Rising Healthcare Costs in 2025?
“The underlying problem is distorted and broken markets,” said Shawn Gremminger, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions. “Until fixed, these problems will remain and the cycle of higher prices each year will continue.”
Houston Chronicle: Have you been charged a ‘facility fee’ by Houston hospitals for outpatient care? We want to hear from you.
The Houston Chronicle is looking into so-called facility fees that hospitals charge patients for the cost of care and want to hear about your experiences.
FOX News: How Trump can double down on price transparency for patients
Estimates don’t hold hospitals accountable if they saddle patients with inflated final bills…Trump can follow through on his first-term efforts by immediately strengthening and enforcing his price transparency rules upon taking office.
POLITICO: Employers outline health priorities under Trump
“If we’re going to address lowering health care costs for employers and working families, then it’s really trying to address some of those root causes that are driving rising health care costs: namely, a lack of transparency and hospital consolidation,” said Ilyse Schuman, senior vice president of health policy for the American Benefits Council.