Thread by @jeffhauser

Insane! The @washingtonpost editorial board attacks @revolvingdoorDC research file on Jeffrey Zients for being fair enough to include the positive purpose of Zients in government (seeking efficiency) & ignoring and ignoring... washingtonpost.com/opinions/biden… (1/x)

how we found out about Zients' purchase of a surprise medical billing operation. (btw, "long term holdings" wannabe Berkshire Hathaway funds like Cranemere engage in EXTENSIVE due diligence, they knew what they were doing). nytimes.com/2020/12/01/us/… (2/x)

How do you write about @revolvingdoorDC criticism of Zients without taking into account Zeints' leading role in NorthStar Anesthesia? (3/x)

Does @DaHalperin maybe have some thoughts about Zients, the predatory for profit Kaplan college empire, and the Washington Post???? republicreport.org/2016/kaplans-g… (4/x)

What did NorthStar -- that Zients buddies at the Post Editorial Board think is unimportant -- do? During Cranemere's due diligence AND post-purchase, they engaged in surprise medical billing. (5/x)

See also (6/x)

Democratic FTC Commissioners have noted the problems with the business model of Zients and NorthStar -- they're actively pursuing violations of the very antitrust laws Americans are relying on the Biden administation toe enforce!!!! (7/x)

So yeah, @revolvingdoorDC is worried about government by people who do due diligence and buy into a business that does surprise medical billing (DEEPLY unpopular, even Republicans pretend to oppose)....

and seek to violate antitrust laws! Wow, we're fringe crazies, huh? (8/x)

For more context on the substance, read @EileenAppelbaum & Rosemary Batt here: cepr.net/wp-content/upl… (9/x)

Here is Democratic FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra: ftc.gov/public-stateme… (10/x)

There's a bipartisan Senate bill on the topic (not endorsing, just noting the odd bedfellows): congress.gov/bill/116th-con… (11/x)

Again--as we exposed in the New York Times, this is what Jeffrey Zients' business DID. Something no defends. It's a highly germane political issue. his goal was to undermine antitrust laws. Shouldn't that concern us about he would approach the health care industry in government?

Again, as someone who benefits from being a colleague of @EileenAppelbaum: The entire "medical practice group" system of provision is gross. It's a symptom of creeping financialization. It should not be. It exists to extract rents. cepr.net/wp-content/upl… (13/x)

Zients CHOSE to outbid other bidders in this space beloved by private equity, which kinda has to mean he expected to surprise medical bill at least as well as the standard in this HORRIFYING field. cepr.net/wp-content/upl… (14/x)

Zients has been worth 9 figures for at least a decade.

9 figures! Cranemere didn't buy NorthStar Anesthesia so Zients could help his struggling family lift itself from poverty. He did it because he can.

And government should exist to stop such predation. (15/x)