Investors got rich looting needy hospitals. Patients paid the price.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

64% : Hospitals in rural and underserved communities have always been a tough business, for the simple reason that they serve more patients who are uninsured or who rely on Medicaid, which reimburses at a fraction of the rate of commercial insurance.
60% : Second, the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 added to the gold-rush mentality by promising to dramatically expand the number of Americans with insurance, thereby improving hospital margins.
53% : In return for state approval, Steward promised it wouldn't add any debt to the hospitals for the purpose of paying Cerberus a dividend or distribution for three years.
51% : Obamacare didn't wind up providing the expected infusion of cash, and the government has continued to slash Medicaid reimbursements.
51% : It all began in 2010, when Cerberus acquired a struggling nonprofit hospital system and rebranded it as for-profit Steward Health Care.
37% : "State regulators were suspicious of the deal.

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