A wall of debt is coming due for private equity-owned hospitals and nursing homes that threatens to undermine care for some of the most vulnerable Americans. That’s triggering alarms in Washington, Politico reports.
Cheap and flexible financing that helped big Wall Street buyout firms snap up health centers, long-term care facilities and provider networks in recent years has evaporated. Higher borrowing costs are chipping away at margins. And bankruptcies at private equity-owned businesses are on track to reach decade highs, which could result in job cutbacks.
Bipartisan efforts have been underway in Congress to force the often opaque private equity firms to disclose more information about their ownership structures and the debt they’re piling onto the health care businesses — setting the stage for a fight between the powerful industry and lawmakers. Read more.
