Press Releases

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) wrote a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to commend the Biden Administration for opening a public inquiry into how private equity and corporate greed has affected Americans’ health care.  

The Committee leaders’ letter highlights key concerns about private equity’s growing role in our nation’s health care system and underscores the important work Congress has already done to help protect Americans against corporate greed in the health care sector. 

“Although private equity has long been involved in health services, we are concerned by the growing body of evidence demonstrating that private equity’s increased role in health care is leading to more health complications for patients, lower quality of care, and higher prices for the health care system,” Nadler and Pallone wrote.  “As a result, the recent increase in private equity investments and the concurrent effects on patient care, health outcomes, and worker conditions require the concerted attention of our federal agencies.”

The Ranking Members also underscored their continued alarm over the role private equity has played in rising health care costs and surprise medical bills.

“We are also concerned that private equity firms investing in health care are driving up health care costs for consumers,” Nadler and Pallone continued.  “For instance, private equity investments in health care were a leading source of surprise medical bills, leading up to Congress’s passage of the No Surprises Act in 2020.  Private equity firms were increasingly acquiring physician staffing companies and private emergency transportation companies contracting with hospitals, and driving up the cost of health care.   According to studies, these companies frequently engaged in practices that led to surprise medical bills, such as exiting a hospital’s network and billing as out-of-network providers.”

Ranking Members Nadler and Pallone remain committed to addressing the growing concern over private equity’s increasing role in our nation’s health care system and its resulting impacts in lower quality of care and higher health care costs for consumers. 

A full copy of the letter can be read here.