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Rep. Jayapal introduces Health Over Wealth Act
The bill proposes safeguards to protect workers, patients, and the quality, access, and safety of healthcare.
Indian American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. / Pramila Jayapal website
Indian American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, along with Senator Edward J. Markey, Chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, introduced the Health Over Wealth Act.
This legislation aims to enhance transparency for private equity firms and for-profit companies that own healthcare entities, including hospitals, nursing homes, and mental or behavioral health facilities.
It proposes safeguards to protect workers, patients, and the quality, access, and safety of healthcare.
The bill includes stronger accountability measures to combat corporate greed and seeks to close tax loopholes that benefit real estate investment trusts profiting from healthcare properties.
The bill's discussion draft was initially announced on Apr.3 during a HELP Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security hearing, “When Health Care Becomes Wealth Care: How Corporate Greed Puts Patient Care and Health Workers at Risk,” chaired by Senator Markey.
“Private equity firms buying up health care systems are simply bad news for patients, leading to worse health outcomes and higher bills. We have a duty to protect patients from greedy corporations that are prioritizing their bottom line over patient care,” Jayapal said.
“I’m proud to be leading the Health Over Wealth Act, legislation that builds on my Healthcare Ownership Transparency Act, with Senator Markey to crackdown on private equity ownership in health care, increase transparency, close loopholes, and ensure that we are always putting patients over profits,” she added.
The Health Over Wealth Act mandates that private equity-owned healthcare facilities disclose their debt and executive pay, lobbying and political spending, healthcare costs for patients and insurance plans, and any reductions in services, wages, or benefits. It also requires these firms to set up escrow accounts to cover five years of expenses to ensure the continuation of care in case of hospital closure or service reduction.
The Act authorized the Department of Health and Human Services to revoke investment licenses from private equity firms that engage in price gouging, understaffing, or creating access barriers to care. Additionally, it establishes a task force to review the role of private equity and consolidation in health care, focusing on how market trends create or exacerbate healthcare disparities.
The Act also prohibited private equity firms from stripping assets from healthcare entities or undermining the quality, safety, or access to healthcare. Finally, it could close tax loopholes for real estate investors to disincentivize healthcare entities from selling their property and then paying exorbitant rents to these investors.
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