Local Spotlight: The Role Of Private Equity In For-Profit Health Care

Published October 23, 2024 at 3:56 PM EDT

Stethoscopes are pictured in an intensive care unit.

Health care in the United States has a reputation for costing a pretty penny – and making one, too.

So, when the country's largest for-profit health care system – Steward Health Care in Dallas, Texas – filed for bankruptcy in May, alarm bells sounded.

In September, CEO Ralph de la Torre was subpoenaed to testify about it in front of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

What led up to this moment? How does a for-profit health care system go from the largest in its field to left with nothing? And most importantly – how did that affect the communities it served?

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