MISSION, Texas - An in-depth discussion on healthcare in the Rio Grande Valley took place at a recent conference hosted by Western Governors University and AltaCair.
The WGU/AltaCair event was titled “Accelerator 2023, RGV Health Equity Conference.” It was held at Mission Event Center.
In their program notes, WGU/AltaCair explained why they hosted the conference.
“The RGV region has 24.7 percent of familiars living below the poverty level, nearly triple the percentage for the United States, according to the RGV Health Connect Organization. The population struggle with diabetes, obesity, and cervical cancer among other health issues. The Rio Grande Regional Hospital states that an estimated 76,000 people in the region have diabetes. The COVID-19 pandemic further augmented the challenges of RGV with economic depressions and heightened inequities. The four RGV counties - Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy, and Cameron counties - are among the poorest counties in the nation and access to healthcare is unaffordable for many residents.”
Dr. Rashmi Chandran, of AltaCair Foundations, described AltaCair as an "advanced healthcare solutions company." Chandran said the company aims to "realign care and efficiency." AltaCair Foundations, meanwhile, is the company's nonprofit arm that "aims to address basic health needs in unserved and underserved communities, as well as reintegrate the homeless and immigrant patients back into the community."
One of the speakers was state Sen. Juan Hinojosa of McAllen. Towards the end of his speech, Hinojosa spoke about rising healthcare costs caused by private equity firms.
Hinojosa was interviewed about this afterwards, Hinojosa said: “There is a big challenge we face nationwide. You have many private equity firms who have large investors whose only goal is profit. And they are looking at and continue to purchase certain sectors in the healthcare system where they control and monopolize the healthcare sector. And then, once they are in control, they increase prices to increase the profit.”
Hinojosa said private equity firms are increasing the prices on life-saving medication prescription drugs, making them unaffordable for the average family.
Asked if this was a recent trend, Hinojosa said: “It’s been there for a while but now it's more pronounced than before. As people are complaining about the high cost of healthcare… it has always been a concern, the high cost of healthcare, but now it seems that it's come to the forefront.”
Asked if this is something state government can remedy, Hinojosa said: “It's a very difficult issue to regulate, so to speak. The reason for that is that we have a capitalist system. What we can do set parameters. And that's an issue that is now being looked into. How to set some parameters so that our healthcare system is not 100% owned by private equity firms whose only goal is to make a profit.”
Here is an audio recording of Hinojosa’s speech from the stage. He is introduced by Edwin F. Estevez, co-founder and principal at AltaCair and market president at Prominence Health.
