On Nov. 9, General Catalyst and Summa Health announced the details of the venture capitalist firm’s $485 million purchase of the Akron, Ohio, based non-profit health care system. General Catalyst had announced its intent to acquire Summa, the city’s largest care provider and employer in January. Since the announcement, a working-class movement has organized to oppose the for-profit takeover.
Following a trend of capitalist acquisitions of public and non-profit hospital systems, California-based General Catalyst sees in Summa lucrative potential. What distinguishes this sale is the immense scale of Summa: an integrated system with its own health insurance program. For this reason, the venture capital firm boasted in its acquisition announcement of “access to new revenue streams.” The would-be owner’s plan to “generate fresh revenue” involves “continuing investment in technology, innovation and services.” Bourgeois economists have lauded the promise of converting Summa into a technologically sophisticated for-profit corporation, applauding General Catalyst for its “big bet.”
But those most at risk in this gamble are those outside the decision-making process: the working class of Akron. The research on for-profit ownership reveals the harms inflicted on patients, workers and communities. Patients will suffer higher charges, barriers to access and continued health disparities along class, race and gender lines. Workers will suffer intensive working hours, lay-offs and the loss of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program qualification (available only to non-profit employees). The community will suffer diminished quality of care and the potential collapse of the health system itself. Ohioans in particular have experience with the damage inflicted by private-equity plundering their health care systems.
The prospect of being acquired by a for-profit had been dismissed by Summa years prior. When Summa executives announced in 2018 their interest in a merger or partnership, the then-chair of the Board of Directors assured the public that they are “not open to … a sale.” Attempting to justify their reversal, the executives now claim the sale will save the health system from financial ruin caused by high operating costs and debt. But this claim does not explain why Fitch Ratings reported in 2022 that Summa’s finances were “stable.” Even if Summa’s finances were as dire as its executives say, the health system could have pursued options other than selling out to venture capital, such as public ownership. When pressed by skeptics on how this sale would benefit Akron, Summa CEO Cliff Deveny revealed his own doubts at a July 2024 town hall: “You can believe me or you can not believe me, you can be skeptical — I’d say I’d be skeptical — I think we all have to be proven that this is going to work.”
Organized working-class opposition
A campaign of organized community members and workers — the Summa Is Not For Sale Coalition — has emerged to oppose the for-profit takeover of Akron’s main care provider. The coalition, however, does not intend to preserve Summa in its current state as a private non-profit system. It envisions Summa as a socialized health system that would be collectively owned by the people of Greater Akron, managed by the workers themselves, where the needs of all are met. Realizing this vision starts with resisting the venture capital acquisition. The coalition’s own “big bet” is that stopping the acquisition, let alone transforming Summa into a beacon of care, depends on enough people being informed, involved and engaged in the fight.
At its onset, the coalition assessed the challenges it confronted. It suffered a delayed start: the capitalists had been working on this deal for months when the coalition emerged. The state broadly supports the acquisition, which became clear when the State of Ohio passed a bill to allow former non-profit hospitals to retain their police forces. The coalition does not command anywhere near the resources or wealth of its capitalist opponents. Finally, while many in Akron oppose the prospect of venture capitalists plundering their health care, few believe anything can be done to stop it. Those disadvantages understood, the coalition moved to leverage its strengths.
Launching the struggle
First, the coalition set out to frame the conflict by disclosing what General Catalyst attempts to obscure. Contrary to the venture capital firm’s presentation as Akron’s altruistic servant, the coalition reveals the Summa conflict as a clash of oppositional class interests. Akron’s working class has a common interest in quality health care as a public good, which profit-driven ownership will obstruct in its obsessive pursuit of revenue streams.
Summa Is Not For Sale’s next objective involved publicizing and winning support for its cause. The coalition drafted a petition listing the reasons why Akron should oppose the acquisition. The petition allowed the coalition to publicize its opposition, engage with people on the issue and amass a contact list of those aligned with its cause.
The coalition’s cause has been well-received by the public, indicating that most disapprove of the acquisition. However, many feel powerless to stop it. By establishing a collective to combat for-profit plundering, Summa Is Not For Sale has taken the crucial first step: the struggle has launched, and people only need to join.
Summa is Not For Sale’s next task is to widen its connections with Summa employees. Should General Catalyst gain ownership, what would prevent lay-offs and the shuttering of “unprofitable” departments? Summa’s Barberton campus stopped offering maternal delivery services in 2022 — a problem that could only worsen under the profit motive. But the most pressing threat for employees, should Summa be acquired by a for-profit, is losing qualification for the non-profit student loan forgiveness program which would devastate their finances. Summa workers, therefore, should oppose the acquisition.
Supporting and organizing employees
There has, however, been a general reluctance by Summa’s staff to be outspoken in opposing the acquisition. The main reason for this seems to be fear of job reprisal. While this concern has general merit, to the coalition’s knowledge, the few employees who have been publicly critical have retained their employment. Indeed, it seems the particular conditions are favorable for workers to be vocal. Summa executives may hesitate to fire those who raise concerns, should the bad press imperil the acquisition. In addition, Northeast Ohio has a number of care centers which compete for relatively few qualified nurses, physicians, technicians, and so on. Given that some Summa workers will quit if the acquisition succeeds, the new for-profit Summa could be facing a dire employment shortage, creating a favorable situation for employees to organize. The coalition’s role is to support and empower any Summa employees willing to speak out.
Through its fight over the healthcare means of production, the Summa Is Not For Sale Coalition signals a resurgence of organized working-class politics in the Rubber City. General Catalyst’s disruption of the Summa status quo sets the scene for a further rupture: if its private non-profit status can be negated in favor of a private for-profit, then it can be further negated in favor of public ownership. Whether this possibility becomes an actuality can only be determined through class struggle.
Feature photo: The non-profit Summa Health, which is the largest care provider in Akron, Ohio, faces acquisition by venture capital firm General Catalyst. Liberation photo
