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MISSION, Texas - An in-depth discussion on healthcare in the Rio Grande Valley took place at a recent conference hosted by Western Governors University.\\xa0

The WGU event was titled \\u201cAccelerator 2023, RGV Health Equity Conference.\\u201d It was held at Mission Event Center.\\xa0

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: \\u201cThere 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.\\u201d

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: \\u201cIt\\u2019s been there for a while but now it's more pronounced than before. As people are complaining about the high cost of healthcare\\u2026 it has always been a concern, the high cost of healthcare, but now it seems that it's come to the forefront.\\u201d

Asked if this is something state government can remedy, Hinojosa said: \\u201cIt'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.\\u201d

Here is an audio recording of Hinojosa\\u2019s speech from the stage. He is introduced by Edwin F. Estevez, co-founder and principal at AltaCair and market president at Prominence Health.

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