The U.S. for-profit healthcare system arose from bipartisanship and is a major investment target for private equity underwriters (PEU). Ensuring profits is behind the talk of empowering patients. Take the burgeoning area of home dialysis, encouraged by last summer's Presidential Executive Order.
PEU Town Hall Ventures is behind Somatus, while Frist-Cressey Ventures backs Monogram Health. Town Hall Ventures founder Andy Slavitt is a former Obama Medicare Chief. Dr. Bill Frist is former Republican U.S. Senator and founder of Frist-Cressey Ventures.
Humana recently partnered with Somatus and Monogram Health. Humana aggressively entered homecare with its 40% purchase of Kindred at Home, a giant home health and hospice provider. PEU Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe owns 30% of Kindred at Home, as does TPG Capital. WCAS employs Tom Scully, former Medicare Chief under President George W. Bush.
Turn over a PEU rock and you'll find a former Medicare Chief. They will do for healthcare what The Carlyle Group did for giant nursing home ManorCare and LifeCare Hospitals. Their grand returns will not be deterred by a "lonely, agitated" public sick of overpaying for healthcare.
