The medical clinic I've been visiting the last 10 years was bought out by private equity. The place fell apart in under a year.

The medical clinic I've been visiting the last 10 years was bought out by private equity. They cut costs so aggressively that they could not even keep a full time doctor on staff. Then they cut the staff. They replaced experienced nurses with cheaper workers. The place fell apart in under a year. Labor is the highest cost in any healthcare practice. Cut it, and the margins improve on paper. It is wild how fast a successful business gets destroyed by this model. PE acquisitions often use leveraged buyouts — meaning the debt used to buy the practice gets loaded onto the practice itself. It services that debt from operating revenue while also generating investor returns. Healthcare is a goldmine for private equity. In 2024, private equity completed 1,136 healthcare deals in the US. People get sick no matter what the economy is doing. It's guaranteed cash flow. The business model is simple. Buy a clinic. Load it up with debt. Cut costs to make the profit margin look amazing. Sell it to someone else in about 5 years. If the clinic goes bankrupt from all that debt later on? The investors don't care. They already made their money. Why is this happening? Greed.