Reclaiming Reproductive Care: Profit-Driven Decisions Don’t Belong in Health Care

In today’s health care landscape, financial interests and profit-driven motives often overshadow patient needs. As private equity firms and corporations increasingly control and consolidate health services, communities and individuals—particularly those seeking reproductive care—are left more susceptible to lower quality care and devastating medical debt. 

Communities who are already struggling to afford or access care are particularly vulnerable. Earlier this year, South Florida’s North Shore Medical Center, formerly owned by a private equity firm, announced it would be closing its obstetrics unit, cutting critical services for pregnant people and their babies.   

The reason for the closure? The hospital cited a “change in business.” What hospital executives meant by this was the obstetrics unit was no longer profitable.  

It was the second hospital in Miami to end obstetric services in less than five years. 

Dr. Christ-Ann Magloire, an OB-GYN at North Shore Medical Center at the time, told NBC Miami that a large percentage of the hospital’s patients don’t have health insurance or haven’t received consistent care. Many are immigrants who have not seen a doctor in a while and need urgent medical attention.   

“It’s very dangerous if we don’t have the services necessary to take care of them when they’re in an acute critical state,” Dr. Magloire said.  

This is what our communities are up against when seeking reproductive care – investment firms that are singularly focused on putting profits over people and corporate interests that create maternity care deserts and further the maternal health crisis.  

What happened at North Shore Medical Center is not an isolated incident. Rather, it’s part of a growing and concerning trend of profits being put above quality, affordable reproductive care. This trend coupled with an increasingly restrictive legal and political landscape, such as with abortion restrictions and attacks on LGBTQ+ care, it’s clear that profit-driven care further exacerbates the challenges to accessing reproductive care. Without meaningful action, putting profits over people will decline maternal health outcomes, increase mental health issues associated with navigating the health system or being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, lower the quality of care our communities deserve, contribute to economic instability, and create a health system that deepens inequities rather than addressing them.  

The Maternal Health Crisis: A Product of Profit-Driven Care 

America’s alarming maternal health crisis disproprtionately affects Black, Indigenous, and Latinx pregnant people. Behind these worsening statistics lies a health system steeped in inequity and driven by financial incentives rather than the well-being of communities. Private equity’s increasing ownership of health services has intensified these disparities, turning essential maternal health care into a financial burden and a driver of medical debt. The closures of maternity wards have contributed to maternal care deserts, with devastating effects on maternal and child health. And in places where care is available, it is often financially crushing.

The cost of childbirth is also soaring, with the average out-of-pocket cost exceeding $2,800 for insured individuals. This expense, combined with profit-driven practices like the overuse of C-sections to fill unused operating rooms and perform a more lucrative procedure, often leaving families with crushing debt. For Black and Latinx mothers in particular, this profit-over-people approach compounds the challenges they already face in accessing culturally competent and compassionate care. 

How Profit-Driven Decisions Harm Reproductive Health Care 

When private equity impacts reproductive health services, the dangers of financial motivations in health care become clear. Over the past decade, private equity has acquired more OB/GYN practices, driving up costs without necessarily improving care quality. In fact, prices for OB/GYN services have increased by nearly 9% following these acquisitions. In some regions, where private equity controls a significant share of the market, costs have spiked by over 16%. The toll of these shifts is compounded even further for people who are forced to travel long distances or even out of state to access services like abortion care. 

Private equity in reproductive care has led to dubious developments, like Obstetrics Emergency Departments (OBEDs) and Advanced Birthing Centers. At OBEDS, routine births are turned into profit-driven “emergencies.” OBEDS often surprise patients with emergency charges for services they may not have realized they received, inflating the overall cost of childbirth.  

Elizabeth in Illinois was shocked when she saw an additional, surprise charge for emergency care after having a healthy birth at a hospital – she had unknowingly entered an OBED.  

At the OBED, which was separated from the labor and delivery department by a curtain, a doctor briefly checked her cervix, timed her contractions, and monitored the fetal heartbeat. Elizabeth was told to go home and come back later. The hospital billed her $503 out of pocket for these services – “emergency” services she was unaware she had even received.   

Most OBEDs are set up and staffed by private equity firms looking to turn a quick profit.  

Advance Birthing Centers allow cesarean sections to take place outside of hospitals, a practice that most providers find dangerous and alarming. Compounded with increased restrictions on abortion care and family planning, this is another way in which reproductive health is under attack.   

People Over Profit: Community Catalyst’s Approach to Systemic Change 

The impact of private equity and profit-driven care on our communities can’t be understated. Last year, new mother Sungida Rashid bled to death in a hospital owned by Steward Health Care, a health system that went bankrupt after private equity involvement. Necessary devices that could have stopped her bleeding had been repossessed after the company failed to pay the bills.  

While tragedies like Sungida’s took place and quality of care declined at Steward-owned hospitals, Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre bought a $40 million yacht – one of two that he owns. 

This reflects a system where financial priorities come before basic standards of care. 

At Community Catalyst, we believe that health care should prioritize people over profit, and that the communities most affected by these inequities must be at the center of the solution. Our People Over Profit initiative exposes the ways private equity and corporate interests create health care crises that leave communities harmed the most by racism, classism and other forms of oppression at risk. By bringing together community partners and centering the voices of those disproportionately affected, we aim to shift the system from one driven by profit to one driven by equity and justice.  

Through the People Over Profit initiative, Community Catalyst pushes for systemic reforms that prioritize community needs over corporate gain, organizing across reproductive, economic, and health justice sectors to drive impactful change. 

We are also working to reorient resources away from profit-driven practices and toward community-first priorities. This means advocating for essential health benefit standards that align with evidence-based practices, including coverage for doula and midwife care, which have been proven to reduce disparities in maternal health outcomes. 

Federal oversight is also needed to ensure maternal health coverage meets the minimum standards recommended by medical experts, and that coverage gaps—such as those for breastfeeding support and midwifery services—are closed. By aligning health coverage with professional guidelines and making maternal health care accessible and affordable for all, we can begin to dismantle the systemic inequities that plague our health system.  

Reclaiming Health Care for Our Communities 

By prioritizing people over profit, we can build momentum towards a system rooted in race equity and health justice, where every community has access to dignified and affordable care. By amplifying the stories of those most affected by health care inequities and working collaboratively across movements, we aim to reclaim health care for all. 

What You Can Do: Recognize and Resist Profit-Driven Health Care 

Private equity’s subtle influence can often go unnoticed, but patients can look out for signs and take action to protect themselves: 

1. Ownership Changes: Ask your provider who owns the practice and whether any recent changes have affected services.
2. Billing Surprises: Review your bills carefully. If you encounter emergency charges you didn’t consent to, dispute them. 
3. Reduced Services: Take note of reduced or limited access to vital services like lactation support or midwifery and shifts in the quality of care you receive like rushed services, waitlists to get care, or rushed services. These changes may be due to cost-cutting measures.

By recognizing the warning signs of profit-driven health care and supporting organizations that advocate for transparency and equity, we can work together to challenge the status quo and build a system that serves everyone.

Together, let’s push back against the corporate takeover of health care and create a future where health is a right, not a privilege.