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Governor Lamont and state legislative leaders have not yet finalized a health care proposal for the new General Assembly, but it should include legislation that would prohibit the sale of nonprofit hospitals to for-profit entities.
Many nonprofit hospitals in Connecticut have been acquired in recent years by large nonprofit chains such as Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Health, so they may not be vulnerable to takeover by for-profit entities. However, many other nonprofit hospitals in the state may be owned by small nonprofit chains or among the few independent nonprofit hospitals.
Good luck to those who can start a private hospital and make money from it. But state governments must protect nonprofit hospitals as long as they were built over many years of community philanthropy and volunteerism, and their capital properly belongs to the community. An investment firm’s 2016 acquisition of three nonprofit hospitals in Connecticut (Waterbury Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital, and Rockville General Hospital in Vernon) resulted in the liquidation of local capital for private benefit. It was decided that
The investment company sold the three hospital properties, paid the investors the money, and then leased the properties back, allowing the hospitals to continue, but at the cost of additional rent. This was essentially what in high finance is called a leveraged buyout. To put it more simply, it’s plunder.
Currently, the three hospitals are in bankruptcy, operating under financial pressure, and are up for sale, with only one potential buyer appearing to be Yale New Haven Health. They are hoping for subsidies from the state government for the acquisition. It’s starting to look like the hospital could go bankrupt before a deal is reached.
A similar situation recently occurred in Massachusetts, where an investment firm purchased and ultimately liquidated six Caritas Christi Healthcare nonprofit hospitals. [ITALICS] their [END ITALICS] Real estate for profit to investors. Currently, those hospitals are also bankrupt and in a serious situation.
The entire Massachusetts congressional delegation said in a statement this month that investment firms “stripped the real estate out of the basements of these hospitals and sold it, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for private equity executives, while leaving the facilities with long-term I was left with a debt.” It is exacerbating, if not causing, the current crisis. ”
The acquisition of nonprofit hospitals by private investors is a nuisance. Connecticut should outlaw it. If a not-for-profit hospital is not financially viable, its assets should default to the state government, and not-for-profit hospitals should be reorganized based on public interest rather than private interest, and the charity that founded the hospital should We should ensure that the organization continues.
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Can armed civilian patrols reduce violent crime? In Hartford’s Garden Street neighborhood, where two people were shot and killed on February 10th? Dexter Burke, the city pastor of the Light Church of God, thinks so, and he organizes patrols as well as street surveillance and garbage collection.
Hartford police would welcome the extra eyes and ears, even if they don’t necessarily have to carry an extra pistol, but those who participate in patrols will be given licenses.
Burke is tired of the vigils led by other clergy that always appear after a shooting in the city. Although often advertised on TV news, the vigils only show off the righteousness and powerlessness of the participants.
Burke’s charge that Hartford police are “unwilling or unable” to protect neighborhoods is not very justified. Because Hartford is full of poverty and crime, and not just around Garden Street. Of course, other cities in Connecticut are also full of poverty and crime, and no one does anything about it. At least nothing effective.
Citizen patrols and no-holds-barred surveillance may help, but may not reduce crime enough to push it into other areas.Still, this might not be such a bad thing, as rising crime in middle-class suburbs could prompt the state government to investigate. why Nothing we do to reduce poverty and crime will have much of an impact.
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Chris Powell has been writing about Connecticut government and politics for many years. (CPowell@cox.net)
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