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What Elmo — and his human friends — learned by asking Americans about their mental health by Karen Kaplan August 15, 2024   Remember when Elmo went viral in January by asking folks on the Internet how they were doing and briefly became the unofficial therapist of X?   “The world is burning, Elmo,” an […]

Pluralistic: The long lineage of private equity’s looting by Cory Doctorow June 2, 2023   Fans of the Sopranos will remember the “bust out” as a mob tactic in which a business is taken over, loaded up with debt, and driven into the ground, wrecking the lives of the business’s workers, customers and suppliers. When

When private equity destroys your hospital by Cory Doctorow February 28, 2024   As someone who writes a lot of fiction about corporate crime, I naturally end up spending a lot of time being angry about corporate crime. It’s pretty goddamned enraging. But the fiction writer in me is especially upset at how cartoonishly evil

Private Equity in Health Care: Prevalence, Impact and Policy Options for California and the U.S. By Christopher Cai, Resident Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Zirui Song, Associate Professor of Health Care Policy and Medicine, Harvard Medical School May 7, 2024   At its most recent peak in 2021, private equity (PE) investment into the broad

After private equity takes over hospitals, they are less able to care for patients, top medical researchers say By Gretchen Morgenson July 31, 2024, 11:00 AM PDT   After private-equity firms acquire hospitals, the facilities’ assets and resources diminish significantly, leaving the facilities less equipped to care for patients, according to a new study by

America’s Seniors Are About to Pay a High Price for Wall Street’s Growing Disenchantment with Medicare Advantage By Wendell Potter August 8, 2024   Over the past few days, both CVS/Aetna and Humana admitted to Wall Street that their Medicare Advantage plans are not nearly as profitable as those insurers had predicted a year ago.

Unforeseen Health Care Bills and Coverage Denials by Health Insurers in the U.S. By Avni Gupta, Sara R. Collins, Shreya Roy, Relebohile Masitha August 1, 2024   Americans are increasingly struggling to get their health insurance to work for them. High deductibles and copayments are causing nearly two of five working-age adults to delay visiting

California bill would require state review of private equity deals in healthcare By Bernard J. Wolfson, KFF Health News Aug. 9, 2024   A bill pending in California’s Legislature to ratchet up oversight of private equity investments in healthcare is receiving enthusiastic backing from consumer advocates and labor unions but drawing heavy fire from hospitals

‘Like, what?’: USA’s Ariana Ramsey blown away by free healthcare at Olympics Talia Barrington Fri 9 Aug 2024   The US rugby sevens player Ariana Ramsey will leave Paris with more than just a bronze medal. After ­discovering the Olympic Village ­provides not only free food to athletes but also a suite of free healthcare

The battle over nursing home rules By McKenzie Beard August 7, 2024   The Biden administration is moving full steam ahead on its contentious nursing home staffing mandate, even as it battles legal challenges in court.   The rule, finalized in April, is a game changer for facilities that provide skilled nursing and assistance to