I commend Senator Warren for her proposed 'Stop Wall Street Looting Act,' which would close many of the loopholes used by the private equity players.

We need to put an end to that, and we can.

Fighting against corporate greed is going to be an uphill battle, but it is what Senator Warren, and I are promising you here today.

I think if it were beneficial for the hospitals or beneficial for the people of the Commonwealth, we would hear about all of those elements.

The Health Over Wealth Act would protect every patient and provider that private equity touches.

Health care is a sacred trust, a sacred responsibility.

The Stop Wall Street Looting Act's joint liability provisions would create actual accountability for that kind of corporate profiteering.

This hearing is a good start, and I am grateful to Senator Markey for getting the ball rolling.

They are going to charge everybody who comes in the door more, which means either the taxpayers, the insurance companies, or private individuals, right?

It is insufficient to simply replace one for-profit company with another, like Steward or Optum, without assurances.

I will say it bluntly, turning private equity loose in our health care system kills people.

We need these hospitals, and we need them to be open and functioning, and functioning at a high level.

Together, we will guarantee every American a health care system, not a wealth care system.

It is called the Stop Wall Street Looting Act, and it is the most comprehensive legislation to fundamentally reform the private equity industry.

We should forbid the typical private equity approach of loading health care organizations with debt, extracting capital, and leaving stripped down organizations in bankruptcy or worse.

Federal and state regulators should think once and think twice, and think three times, before they let another corporate investor suck more money out of the Steward system.

We have to protect it against the predators who are looking at this, our health care system as just another way of making themselves more wealthy.

We have now seen the buyouts and M and As led by private equity firms, over 30 percent of hospitals here in the U.S.