Report – Overbilled and Overtreated: Private Equity and the Healthcare Affordability Crisis
June 25, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Private equity firms are driving up healthcare costs for patients already struggling to afford everyday essentials and are significant contributors to the American affordability crisis, according to a new report by Campaign for Accountability (CfA). CfA’s statistical analysis of new hospital cost data shows that private equity-owned hospitals netted $669 more per patient than comparable hospitals with other ownership structures.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “Everyone deserves to have access to quality healthcare, but the rise in private equity ownership is putting that even further out of reach for many Americans. We want regulators and legislators to be aware of how private equity ownership is contributing to rising healthcare costs so they can develop policies to properly address it.”
CfA’s finding that private equity hospitals are netting $669 more per patient cannot be explained away by firms finding ways to reduce the cost of care: Private equity acquisition has no statistically significant effect on hospital operating costs per patient. The difference in profit margins between private equity-owned hospitals and other hospitals was highest for privately insured patients, with whom hospitals have greater latitude to set prices.
In addition to CfA’s new statistical analysis, the report provides a comprehensive review of healthcare spending data, litigation, regulatory investigations, investor materials, and media reports, supporting the conclusion that private equity has driven up healthcare costs.
Private equity’s presence in the U.S. healthcare industry has grown dramatically over the past two decades. The number of healthcare businesses acquired by private equity firms rose from 352 in 2010 to 937 in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Between 2019 and 2023, 65% of physician practice acquisitions were completed by private equity firms.
Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “Private equity is far from the only reason that Americans are struggling to afford quality healthcare. But the evidence is clear that private equity’s profits-over-people business model is adding additional strains to a healthcare system that already fails to serve far too many of us.”
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750