The long-term care industry has been plagued by unaffordable prices and staffing shortages, squeezed by growing demand as the country ages. But public health officials have been voicing concerns about another, more hidden issue: the rise of private-equity-owned nursing homes. On the show today, Mark Unruh, professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College, breaks down the long-term care industry, how nursing homes are impacted by private equity ownership, and what high, convoluted costs and staffing shortages mean for aging Americans seeking nursing home care.

Then, we’ll dig into a niche economic indicator and how work is weighing on us. Plus, how one listener used their pandemic stimulus cash.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

- “How do nursing homes make money?” from Marketplace

- “How Patients Fare When Private Equity Funds Acquire Nursing Homes” from the National Bureau of Economic Research

- “‘They Were Traumatized’: How a Private Equity-Associated Lender Helped Precipitate a Nursing-home implosion” from Politico

- “Who Really Owns Nursing Homes, And How The Feds Are About To Learn More” from Forbes

- “Dying Broke” from KFF Health News

- “Unhappy Workers Cost US Firms $1.9 Trillion” from Bloomberg

- “New LegalShield Data Reveals Highest Consumer Financial Stress Level in 3 Years” from LegalShield

- “TurboTax isn’t allowed to say it’s ‘free’ anymore” from The Verge

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

What happens when private equity firms own nursing homes?

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