U.S. Senate Subcommittee looks at Steward concerns, calls for change in health care

A U.S. Senate Subcommittee held a hearing investigating the role of for-profit companies in the United States health care system in Boston Wednesday.
The hearing, "When Health Care Becomes Wealth Care," described how the Senators said corporate greed is putting patients at risk.
The topic focused on the financially challenged Steward Health Care and Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre.
US Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts stated Steward claimed it would offer "world-class care" when it first bought the health care facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Texas. Still, Markey says that is not the case.
“Greedy corporate executives like Steward Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre are failing in their responsibility to providers, patients, and communities,” said Senator Markey. “In Massachusetts and across the country, they are deploying promises for profit, which is why I launched my agenda to put health care over wealth care. My agenda, including my new Health over Wealth Act, will ensure transparency, accountability, protections for patients and providers, and guarantee access to care for every community in the country. I am committed to preventing Steward’s failures from becoming America’s health care standard.”
The Health over Wealth Act, introduced by Markey, is currently seeking public comment. According to Markey, the act aims to require greater transparency in healthcare entity ownership, establish more safeguards to protect workers and preserve access to healthcare, regulate healthcare, and monitor hospital closures and service reductions.
While none of the top officials from Steward were present, the meeting focused primarily about Steward.
“Today's hearing revealed how a billion-dollar deal that enriched Steward's private equity owners and its CEO left the hospitals in shambles,” said US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
“We need to hold the executives who drove these hospitals into financial collapse accountable and ensure private equity can't repeat this same trick. My Stop Wall Street Looting Act would fundamentally reform the private equity industry, and I’m also introducing new legislation to give the federal government authority to claw back compensation from both health care executives and Wall Street investors whose predatory financial engineering endangers health care entities,” Warren added.