Consolidation Trend: Corporate Giants Acquiring Primary Care Practices Quickly.

Large corporations, particularly health insurers, are buying up primary care practices due to the vast number of patients they oversee, who bring business and profits to the company. The growing privatization of Medicare, the federal health insurance program for older Americans, means that more than half its 60 million beneficiaries have signed up for policies with private insurers under the Medicare Advantage program. However, experts warn that the consolidation will lead to higher prices and systems driven by the quest for profits, not patients’ welfare, and threaten the personal nature of the doctor-patient relationship.