Thread

Bill to Ban Private Equity from Owning Medical Practices

509 points · 384 comments · paimapi

NegativeK · 1789944184 · focus · HN ↗
Can someone steelman private equity, please? I'm honestly looking for the upsides (for non-investors) of when PE moves into an industry like medicine and begins buying up businesses that traditionally aren't already large chains.
I already hear the downsides frequently from someone whose work is directly affected.
1. twoodfin · 1789944333 · focus · HN ↗
  The upside is to the folks who sold the businesses they owned.
  Should they be outlawed from selling to certain classes of investor? Which?
  1. Grombobulous · 1789944624 · focus · HN ↗
    It should be more about making certain levels of consolidation and deep erosion of local ownership illegal.
    We have run this country on an assumption that we must give businesses a high amount of freedom. An argument can be made that businesses have been given too much freedom in our system. We’ve allowed Amazon and Ticketmaster and Walmart to exist and they shouldn’t exist in their present form.
    Healthcare practices that provide necessary care shouldn’t even really be allowed to be for-profit entities if you ask me. The incentives become too perverse as a result.
    furytrader · 1789945966 · focus · HN ↗
    "We’ve allowed Amazon and Ticketmaster and Walmart to exist and they shouldn’t exist in their present form."
    Do you realize that when Walmart moves into a community, prices charged for everyday things overall drop significantly, both at Walmart and their competition, which means that poor families are able to buy more with every dollar.
    What do you have against poor people?
    Grombobulous · 1789946506 · focus · HN ↗
    And the employer with the largest amount of employees using SNAP benefits is…
    Walmart is subsidized by the government to the tune of $2,000 per employee due to their low wages: <a href="https://rmfu.org/taxpayer-dollars-subsidize-wal-mart/" rel="nofollow">https://rmfu.org/taxpayer-dollars-subsidize-wal-mart/ [1]
    They then get to skim the other side of those subsidies, too, since they sell so many items that qualify for SNAP and WIC, as well as being one of the largest if not the largest prescription supplier in the country.
    (25% of Walmart employees qualify for Medicaid <a href="https://mafainsurance.com/how-many-walmart-employees-are-on-medicaid.html" rel="nofollow">https://mafainsurance.com/how-many-walmart-employees-are-on-...)
    So their employees on SNAP and Medicaid turn right around and spend that money inside Walmart.
    > both at Walmart and their competition
    What competition? When Walmart comes to town, the competition closes.
    [1] Probably a lot higher since this article is about 20 years old
    refurb · 1789949518 · focus · HN ↗
    It’s wild to blame Walmart for government subsidies when it’s the government not Walmart who decides who gets benefits.
    Is Walmart to blame they hired a single mother of 3 for $20/hr? Would this women be better off if Walmart never existed and she was unemployed?
    And then turn around and blame Walmart for selling essential food items for low prices because SNAP can be used to pay for them. Would you rather SNAP beneficiaries pay more for groceries so they have less to eat?
    Grombobulous · 1790000178 · focus · HN ↗
    Your argument would be a sound one if corporations weren’t granted unlimited financial power in making political donations and campaign ads.
    67% of Americans support raising the federal minimum wage to $15/hour. Why hasn’t it happened yet if it’s so popular?
    twoodfin · 1790034717 · focus · HN ↗
    80%+ of Americans support voter ID laws.
    <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/652523/americans-endorse-early-voting-voter-verification.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://news.gallup.com/poll/652523/americans-endorse-early-...
    Why hasn’t it happened yet at the Federal level if it’s so popular?
    Must be the corporations!

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.