Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project today released the following statement in response to news that LifePoint Health, an Apollo-owned hospital chain, is acquiring Kindred Healthcare, a specialty health company, in a deal of undisclosed value.

“LifePoint Health’s proposed acquisition of Kindred Healthcare is an anti-competitive power-grab that will lead to nurse and clinician layoffs, worse patient outcomes, and higher hospital bills,” said Moe Tkacik, Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project. “LifePoint promised not to use any of its more than $2 billion in CARES Act bailout money to finance the acquisition, which means Apollo will likely finance the deal by issuing even more debt. That can be catastrophic for hospitals, but for the Apollo-owned LifePoint, whose hospitals have already cut costs to the bone under the weight of its nearly $10 billion in debt and lease obligations, it will be even worse than that. And since LifePoint makes its money by monopolizing health care services in rural and small-town markets, most patients don’t have a choice but to put up with longer wait times, dirtier hospitals and more negligent care.”

“LifePoint’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic was broadly appalling. The company slashed nurse hours across the board even when patient census was surging; failed to properly quarantine Covid-19 patients from the rest of the patient population because it didn’t want to staff its hospitals appropriately; refused to conduct community Covid-19 testing at multiple locations even though the federal government bore the full cost because it wasn’t profitable enough; and discouraged their own employees from getting tested for the virus because management didn’t want to pay nurses to stay home,” added Tkacik. “Sadly, most of the company’s patients had no choice but to patronize their hospitals and pay the extortionate hospital bills for which LifePoint has become famous. If LifePoint takes over Kindred’s 95 locations, which have already struggled to offer adequate patient care, we will likely see more of the same.”

“The Federal Trade Commission must review and reject this deal,” said Tkacik

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.