Take Back Our Hospitals Act of 2026

The Take Back Our Hospitals Act of 2026 (S4085) was introduced by Sen. Murphy (D-CT) on March 12, 2026, and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. It has a companion bill in the House (HR7920). The bill amends the Social Security Act to bar Medicare payments to hospitals or skilled nursing facilities owned or controlled by a 'covered firm' or its affiliates. The term 'covered firm' is not fully defined in the provided text but is widely understood to target private equity firms. The bill includes a three-year transition period for existing facilities.

The money trail is indirect: the bill does not authorize or appropriate any funds. Instead, it creates a financial penalty—loss of Medicare revenue—for non-compliant facilities. Medicare is a major payer for hospitals and SNFs, so this prohibition would be a powerful disincentive for PE ownership. The mechanism is regulatory, not fiscal.

Structural winners are publicly traded hospital operators not owned by PE, such as HCA Healthcare, Universal Health Services ($UHS), and Tenet Healthcare ($THC). These companies could gain market share and pricing power if PE-owned competitors exit or shrink. Structural losers are PE firms with significant hospital or SNF holdings, most notably Apollo Global Management ($APO) through its Lifepoint Health chain, and to a lesser extent Blackstone ($BX), KKR ($KKR), and others with healthcare investments.

The bill is at an early stage—referred to committee with no hearings scheduled. Given the 119th Congress's divided control and the bill's partisan sponsorship (all Democrats), passage is unlikely in the current session. However, the bill signals growing regulatory scrutiny of PE in healthcare, which could influence future legislation or agency actions.