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This was the first subpoena issued by the HELP Committee since 1981. Despite the subpoena, Dr. de la Torre failed to appear today for the hearing.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today led the committee in a hearing titled “Examining the Bankruptcy of Steward Health Care: How Management Decisions Have Impacted Patient Care.”
Ahead of the hearing, the committee authorized a subpoena in a bipartisan vote to compel Steward CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre to appear today as a witness and provide testimony. This was the first subpoena issued by the HELP Committee since 1981. Despite the subpoena, Dr. de la Torre failed to appear today for the hearing.
Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched live HERE:
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will come to order.
In America today, we have a health care system that is broken, dysfunctional and cruel.
Too often it is a system that is designed not to make patients well, but to make health care executives and stockholders extraordinarily wealthy.
There could not be a clearer example of that than private equity billionaires on Wall Street who are making billions by purchasing hospitals throughout our country, stripping all of their assets and loading them up with debt that they could never afford to pay back.
Perhaps more than anyone else in America, Ralph de la Torre, the CEO of Steward Health Care, is the poster child for the type of outrageous corporate greed that is permeating throughout our for-profit health care system.
Working in partnership with the private equity firm Cerberus, Dr. de la Torre became obscenely wealthy by loading up hospitals from Massachusetts to Arizona with billions of dollars in debt and selling the land underneath these hospitals to real estate executives at Medical Properties Trust who charged unsustainably high rent.
As a result of Dr. de la Torre’s elaborate financial scheme, Steward Health Care, and the more than 30 hospitals it owns in 8 states, declared bankruptcy with some $9 billion in debt.
But let’s be clear: Steward’s severe financial problems did not happen overnight. They have been going on for more than a decade.
It has been estimated that at least 15 patients at hospitals owned by Steward died as a result of a lack of medical equipment or staffing shortages and that at least 2,000 other patients were put in serious risk according to federal regulators.
Since 2019, federal inspectors have cited Steward-owned hospitals over 30 times for putting patients in “immediate jeopardy” – meaning that patients died, were put at “grave risk” or were injured.
In 2014, Steward shut down the Quincy Medical Center in Massachusetts with the exception of its Emergency Room – which it shut down six years later. Today, Quincy is the largest city in Massachusetts without an Emergency Room.
In 2018, Steward shut down the Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown, Ohio closing the only labor and delivery unit in that city for pregnant women and their babies and laying off 468 health care workers in the process.
Last year, Steward shut down the Texas Vista Medical Center, the main health care option for San Antonio's south side after it missed over $650,000 in payments to medical suppliers leaving the hospital with a severe shortage of respiratory masks among many other things.
Last month, state regulators required Steward to shut down St. Luke’s Behavioral Center in Phoenix, Arizona after they found that it had been without air conditioning as temperatures soared past 100 degrees putting more than 70 patients at risk of heat exposure.
Steward has also shut down pediatric wards in Massachusetts and Louisiana, closed neonatal units in Florida and Texas, and eliminated maternity services at a hospital in Florida.
We know that Steward has gone bankrupt. We know that several of its hospitals have already been forced to close their doors because they ran out of money.
But how is Dr. de la Torre doing financially? While hospitals shut down, while patients go without care, while health care workers lose their jobs, how has Dr. De La Torre been doing financially?
The reality is that Dr. de la Torre is doing phenomenally well.
While Steward was busy shutting down hospitals,
the companies he owns received $250 million in compensation over a 4-year period. Let me repeat, he personally received hundreds of millions of dollars, some of which he used to purchase this $40 million yacht. (Chart 1: Yacht.)
While Steward’s hospitals were severely understaffed, Dr. de la Torre was able to afford this $15 million custom-made, luxury fishing boat. (Chart 2: Luxury fishing boat.)
While Steward-owned hospitals could not afford to pay for life-saving medical supplies, it had enough money to purchase a $62 million private jet and, incredibly, a $33 million backup jet that Dr. de la Torre and his family used for non-business trips throughout the world. (Charts 3 and 4: Private jets.)
While Steward’s hospitals were laying off hundreds of workers, Dr. de la Torre made a $10 million charitable contribution to an exclusive prep school in Dallas that was fully paid for by Steward Health Care, not his own personal funds.
How many of Steward’s hospitals could have been prevented from closing down, how many lives could have been saved, how many health care workers would still have their jobs if Dr. de la Torre spent $160 million on high-quality health care at the hospitals he managed instead of a yacht, two private jets, a luxury fishing boat and a massive contribution to a wealthy prep school?
Today, we will be hearing from nurses in Massachusetts and from public officials in Louisiana who have first hand knowledge of the harm Steward has caused to patients, health care workers and the communities in which they live. I look forward to hearing from them soon.
As the Chairman of this Committee, I look forward to working with Ranking Member Cassidy, Senator Markey and every Senator to hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his financial mismanagement and his greed.
But let’s be clear: Dr. de la Torre did not act alone.
Who else besides Dr. de la Torre benefitted financially as a result of Steward’s bankruptcy?
Cerberus, the private equity firm he partnered with, made an estimated $800 million profit from its investments in Steward Health Care.
From 2017 through 2021, the CEO of Medical Properties Trust received about $70 million in bonuses, stock awards and salary. How much of his total compensation came as a result of its financial arrangements with Steward?
The collapse of Steward Health Care is just one extreme example of the damaging role private equity is having on our health care system.
Private equity firms have bought up hundreds of hospitals, thousands of nursing homes, and tens of thousands of medical practices – saddling them up with unsustainable debt – and stripping their assets to make huge profits for their executives and investors.
Study after study has shown that, on average, when a private equity firm takes over a hospital, a nursing home or another medical provider, the price of health care goes up, the quality of health care goes down, and health care workers are asked to do much more work with fewer and fewer staff.
The issue of private equity in health care is an issue this Committee must look into. We cannot allow wealthy private equity executives to treat our health care system as their own personal piggy bank.
Health care in America must be a fundamental human right for all, not a privilege for the wealthy few.
Senator Cassidy, you are recognized for an opening statement.
"Over the last year, for every single political prisoner Egypt has released, it has jailed two more," lamented U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.
Several Democratic U.S. senators on Thursday denounced the Biden administration's decision to send $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt despite enduring human rights abuses by the Middle Eastern country's authoritarian regime.
U.S. State Antony Blinken this week waived human rights conditions attached to $225 million of the aid package, citing Egypt's strategic importance and the country's role in attempts to broker a cease-fire agreement that would halt the assault on Gaza by Israel, which is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
"It's no secret that Egypt remains a deeply repressive autocratic state."
"This decision waives requirements on an additional $225 million of military aid to Egypt that is tied to broader improvements on democracy and human rights," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Ct.) said in a statement on Thursday.
"It's no secret that Egypt remains a deeply repressive autocratic state, and I see no good reason to ignore that fact by waiving these requirements," the senator added. "We have previously withheld this portion of Egypt's military aid package, while still maintaining our strategic relationship, and we should continue to do so."
On Wednesday, Murphy and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) issued a joint statement decrying Biden's decision to fully fund Egypt, focusing on a separate $95 million share of aid released by the administration.
"The law is clear: Egypt is required to make 'clear and consistent progress' in releasing political prisoners in order to receive $95 million—a small portion—of its $1.3 billion military aid package this year," the senators wrote. "The Egyptian government has failed that test."
"Over the last year, for every single political prisoner Egypt has released, it has jailed two more," Murphy and Coons noted. "That's not clear and consistent progress—it's one step forward and two steps back. And among the thousands and thousands of political prisoners the government has continued to refuse to release are two U.S. legal permanent residents, Hosam Khalaf and Salah Soltan."
Last week, Murphy and Coons were among the nine Democratic senators and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who urged Blinken to "enforce the conditions set forth by Congress on holding Egypt accountable for progress on human rights" by withholding aid "until Egypt's human rights record improves."
According to the most recent State Department annual country report, "there were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Egypt" between 2022-23.
The report cited violations including:
Credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; punishment of family members for alleged offenses by a relative.
"Egypt has failed to make consistent progress, yet the State Department has decided to release additional military aid," Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said on Thursday. "The administration should use the leverage Congress provided to defend the fundamental rights of Egyptian political prisoners and dissidents. That's what the Egyptian people, and people everywhere, rightly expect of the United States."
"I look forward to a new future in North Dakota and hope our lawmakers will finally give up on their crusade to force pregnancy on people against their will," said one advocate.
Two days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed that "every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative" wanted the federal right to abortion care to be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, a North Dakota judge became the latest on Thursday to strike down a state-level abortion ban, saying it violated residents' constitutional rights.
"The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health, and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen healthcare provider free from government interference," wrote Judge Bruce Romanick, a District Court judge. "This section necessarily and more specifically protects a woman's right to procreative autonomy—including to seek and obtain a previability abortion."
The near-total ban on abortion care will be officially blocked in the coming days, in a move that the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) said could ultimately help restore access for people across the Midwest, as abortion care is currently banned in South Dakota and heavily restricted in nearby states including Nebraska and Iowa.
Meetra Mehdizadeh, a staff attorney at CRR, which filed a lawsuit against North Dakota's ban in 2023, said the ruling "is a win for reproductive freedom, and means it is now much safer to be pregnant in North Dakota," but warned that Republican lawmakers who passed the law have already done damage to pregnant people in the state that will take time to reverse.
"The damage that North Dakota's extreme abortion bans have done cannot be repaired overnight," said Mehdizadeh. "There are no abortion clinics left in North Dakota. That means most people seeking an abortion still won't be able to get one, even though it is legal. Clinics are medical facilities that need to acquire doctors, staff, equipment—they can take years to open, like most healthcare centers. The destructive impacts of abortion bans are felt long after they are struck down."
CRR argued in the case that the ban was too vague for medical providers to determine when an exception would be allowed for a pregnant patient whose life or health was at risk.
"This left physicians who provided abortions with the threat of having to defend their decision in court if someone were to question the provider's judgment," said the group. "Violating the ban was considered a class C felony, punishable by a maximum of five years of imprisonment, a fine of $10,000, or both."
Among the plaintiffs represented by CRR was Red River Women's Clinic, which was North Dakota's sole abortion care provider until a prior ban forced it to relocate from Fargo to Moorhead, Minnesota, where abortion has remained legal following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.
"Today's decision gives me hope. I feel like the court heard us when we raised our voices against a law that not only ran counter to our state constitution, but was too vague for physicians to interpret and which prevented them from providing the high quality care that our communities are entitled to," said Tammi Kromenaker, director of the clinic. "Abortion is lifesaving healthcare; it should not be a crime. I look forward to a new future in North Dakota and hope our lawmakers will finally give up on their crusade to force pregnancy on people against their will."
Since Roe was overturned in 2022, numerous women have shared stories of being denied abortion care after suffering complications—including some that were life-threatening.
Judges in states including Wyoming, Utah, and Montana have blocked abortion bans in recent years, and voters have rejected anti-abortion ballot measures and approved ones that support the right to abortion in states including Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio, and Michigan.
"We all agree on a simple but powerful principle—that polluters should pay to clean up the mess that they have caused, and those that have polluted the most should pay the most," Sen. Chris Van Hollen said.
United States Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Jerry Nadler on Thursday announced the introduction of legislation that would require Big Oil firms to pay into a damages fund used to address the climate crisis.
The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act, which Van Hollen first proposed in 2021, would levy charges on the largest companies that extract and refine fossil fuels in the U.S., based on a Superfund model. It would create a $1 trillion fund to "address harm and damages caused," with a significant proportion of the money spent on environmental justice in affected communities, Van Hollen said.
"We all agree on a simple but powerful principle—that polluters should pay to clean up the mess that they have caused, and those that have polluted the most should pay the most," Van Hollen said at a press conference.
Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, indicated that the proposal was groundbreaking.
"We're thrilled to be supporting the first ever federal bill that would make polluters pay for climate damages!" Henn wrote on social media.
BIG NEWS: We're thrilled to be supporting the *first ever* federal bill that would #MakePollutersPay for climate damages!!
The Polluters Pay Climate Fund act would raise *$1 TRILLION* from Big Oil to help families & communities deal with climate impacts. https://t.co/wX6lMOTexh
— Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) September 12, 2024
The new bill targets only the "heaviest hitters," as Van Hollen put it: companies responsible for at least 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the period between 2000 and 2022. The levies they face would be directly proportional to the amount of oil, gas, and coal extracted or refined, as determined by the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to Van Hollen and Nadler (D-N.Y.), the bicameral legislation was also introduced by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.). It has five co-sponsors in the Senate, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and more than a dozen co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Many state legislatures have considered "polluters pay" climate bills in recent years, and Vermont passed one in May. Van Hollen said a federal bill "would be a big, big step forward."
The bill has the backing of many dozens of environmental organizations around the country, several of which had representatives at Thursday's press conference.
"The fossil fuel industry has known about climate change for decades," Sara Chieffo, a vice president at the League of Conservation Voters, said at the event. "It's time they face the consequences of their deception and are held responsible for their actions that are destroying both lives and a livable, safe climate."
Phil Radford, Sierra Club's chief strategy officer, added that "for way too long, these companies have poisoned communities, spilled oil, polluted our air, caused all sorts of health problems, and gotten away with it."
"Today is an incredible moment where we are saying: No more," he said.
Advocates indicated that at least 40% of the funds would go toward environmental justice.