Private equity and hedge funds should not be allowed to own public goods like hospitals or housing.
Last year, that same hospital posted 100 million in profits.
It is owned by a PE firm, and people wonder why appendectomies now cost $30k and simple ambulance rides are $15k.
It's a broken system because for a person who does have insurance, they will really try to charge you the full $30k. But there's a reason for this too. Most people who don't have insurance are too poor to pay anything, and once the hospital has documented that, they can put their costs to a government "uninsured patient" fund.
It's a classic case of government intervention that is well intentioned but misguided and ends up messing up all the economic incentives. There are also a lot of really slimey and manipulative people floating around in the system, exploiting its brokenness.
c.f. elder care, child care, basic utilities.
If you own things that cannot be allowed to completely collapse, you can always dangle them over the edge and demand ransom.
I bet I could wander through these hospitals, chat to the staff and find ways to reduce cost and drastically reduce outcomes - given the numbers that are being quoted, it is not a challenging task. And I could probably set up a new hospital that did much better and is much popular with patients.
But I'm nobody special, so if I can see that every can. If it isn't happening, it is probably because setting up a good hospital is illegal. Working on making competition easier will get good results.