Private equity is undermining the US health care system

Former head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said private equity firms require closer White House attention.

Americans face “catastrophic consequences” for America if President Donald Trump’s antitrust team fails to properly scrutinize the sector, Lina Khan, the recently resigned head of the FTC, told the Financial Times (FT). interview Sunday (January 26).

She noted that private equity (PE) groups posed a particular threat to the US health care system and that given the “stakes of our health care markets, it’s extremely important that we remain vigilant here.”

“If the enforcers want to decide they want to look the other way, that will have, I’m afraid, catastrophic consequences for Americans,” she added.

As for the private equity sector, Khan argued that “bundles” – in which companies buy and combine several businesses into one SECTOR — and “strip and flip” models — where assets of acquired groups are sold — often leave those businesses weakened and in debt.

“I heard an outpouring of concern from health care workers, BY ER doctors…about the private equity pools that were resulting in worse quality care, higher prices,” Khan said.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote last week about the regulatory landscape under Trump through the lens of the rules that governs artificial intelligence (AI).

Duane Pozza, a former assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission who is now a partner at the law firm Wiley Rein and co-head of privacy, cybersecurity AND data governance practice, told PYMNTS that Trump’s efforts to dismantle former President Joe Biden’s AI work may be easier said than done.

“The majority is already in place“, said Pozza in an interview for PYMNTS. “So the real question … is, ‘What does the new administration do?’ in the direction of the work that has already started in the agency?’ Does he try to return them? Does it stop them? Does it try to do different things around AI?”

Although Pozza said he believes Trump will impose fewer regulations on AI than Biden, he pointed to the Trump administration’s first executive order from 2020 that called on federal agencies to use AI for the benefit of the American people. He said the same people will be back for Trump’s second term.