In the past few years, two major hospital chains have gone bankrupt. First, in March 2024, there was Steward Health Care, which owned 31 hospitals across the country. Then came Prospect, which owned 16 hospitals when it declared bankruptcy at the start of this year. The financial condition of the hospitals had wreaked havoc on the ability of the low-income communities where both hospitals operated to deliver care even before the bankruptcies. “They died in hallways. In line. Alone,” wrote the Boston Globe of Steward’s patients. “Their deaths are the human cost of Steward’s financial neglect.”
