Vulture capitalists buying up hospitals & bleeding them dry

[peppertree]

[Chainfire]

1. It is all a part of our ass-backwards medical system.

Everything for maximum profits.

[peppertree]

2. And the Romney/Paul Singer business model in general

It's one of the ugliest legacies of the Reagan years.

They buy out the owners of well-run companies; load them with debt; pocket the borrowed proceeds; and leave the business stumbling - until it often closes.

Then, they sell what's left - taking yooge tax deductions all the way to the bank.

Paul Singer did the same thing to auto parts giant Delphi - leaving GM to depend on Chinese and Mexican imports. He even pocketed TARP money to do so.

If these scams - especially against hospitals - aren't treated as the national security threat they are, all is lost.

[aggiesal]

20. I was going to say that this is exactly the same blueprint ...

Last edited Mon May 8, 2023, 12:54 AM - Edit history (1)

that RMoney's Bain Capital used to take down Toys-R-Us

[peppertree]

22. And so many others

There was also - just to name one - Lampert the Lamprey, and Sears.

He basically sucked them dry, all the while promising that the turnaround was "just around the corner."

Stringing people along is a centerpiece of all good con acts - as Trump knows so well.

[enough]

3. We're seeing this first hand it our local hospital which still physically exists but

is completely empty no use to anyone. If you need an emergency room, go elsewhere, much farther away.

[peppertree]

5. I'm sorry to hear that

I have an in-law who works for a dental practice - one of the largest in town - which is about to go through the same thing.

The deal isn't yet official - though it's all but certain, especially given how craven its owner (a Wall Street reject who inherited it from his talented father) and his greasy wife are.

But as always, it's not so much all these miscreants' fault as it is our lawmakers for failing to prevent it.

In many countries, it's called hollowing out a business - and it's a felony.

Here, it's becoming the national business model.

[live love laugh]

6. The same happened to one local hospital. It's now a shell.

And the other facilities in close proximity are overwhelmed with the additional patients.

I just lost my longtime primary due to being overworked from the absorption.

[peppertree]

13. I'm really sorry to hear that

This economic fifth-column garbage has to stop.

We were just saying with Irish Dem how Putin must be stomping with glee every time he hears of some valuable business - especially hospitals! - being hollowed out by our own vultures and pirates.

[Irish_Dem]

4. They did this to mental health decades ago.

Stole every penny in the system and even took out huge corporate loans.
Declared bankruptcy and walked away with huge fortunes.

To this day there is a serious shortage of mental health professionals.
The entire systems was destroyed.

Inpatient, outpatient, day treatment, drug treatment, etc etc.

[peppertree]

7. As they say, there ought to be a law

Instead, it's becoming the national business model.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Some psychologists knew we were the canaries in the coal mine.

It was just a matter of time before all of the US became victims of ruthless sociopaths.

Power and money were the only things that mattered to them.
These corporations killed people and destroyed mental health treatment in the US
for a long time.

We tried to warn everyone over and over.
No one believed us.

[peppertree]

9. +1

If for no other reason that vultures are becoming a bonafide national security threat - hollowing out the economy (and health!) from within.

It's what Hitler hoped he could do to the U.S. - and actually ordered his goons to study the feasibility of creating an economic fifth column here (since an outright invasion was out of the question).

Prescott Bush knew all about that.

[Irish_Dem]

10. This has been Putin's goal for decades. He damaged the US without firing a shot.

With the help of his flying monkeys the GOP.

[peppertree]

11. True. The GOP was in bed with Hitler then - and with Putin now.

With vulture fundies and equity pirates only too happy to be part of the problem - a big part.

[Irish_Dem]

12. The dark underbelly of human nature always shows itself over and over.

It poses a real threat to human survival.

[peppertree]

14. +1

Our great shared problem in a nutshell there.

[RegulatedCapitalistD]

15. How do we stop them

TAX THE RICH

[peppertree]

16. That, and do what many other democracies do:

Make hollowing out a business, a felony.

In many other countries, vulture/equity-pirate practices are prosecuted as fraud.

Here, they're becoming the national business model.

[RegulatedCapitalistD]

17. But first we are going to have to defeat

The Putinpublicans...it won't be easy

[peppertree]

18. Plus their napkin judges

They have'em in their pocket - and every so often pull them out to blow their noses on them.

[RegulatedCapitalistD]

19. Putin owns 2 branches of our Government now..

[peppertree]

21. And (with exceptions) his allies in the Fortune 500

They know that funding Repugs plays into Putin's hands - and they don't care.

They also know it could lead to the ripping up of the dollar as the world's reserve currency - our greatest asset! - and they don't care about that either.

All they care about anymore, is their stock buybacks, their being above the law, and their offshore accounts.

[RegulatedCapitalistD]

23. And yet they fail to realize Putin owns them too

[MerryBlooms]

24. r&k also, private doctor practices are being forced into big

Company health conglomerates. Asante is the big one in our area. They run almost everything thing here health related. These huge companies have monopolies in many states. Same with dental. Companies like Smilies and such. Very difficult for doctors to stay independent now days.