The non-profit health system Summa is the main care provider and largest employer in Summit County. In January 2024, the venture capital firm General Catalyst announced its intention to acquire and privatize Summa. I stand in opposition to this attempted take-over for several reasons, including:

- Studies reveal that, in the desperate search for profits, privatized hospitals will cut staff, intensify working hours for remaining employees, offer fewer services, discharge patients prematurely, and charge higher costs.
- For-profit status necessitates targeting a wealthier clientele, because private insurance can offer higher reimbursement rates than Medicaid. This would exacerbate health disparities due to existing social inequalities along class, race, gender, sexuality, ability, and other lines.
- As a non-profit, Summa employees have a pathway to student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. For many this loan forgiveness is a lifeline, as care providers are compelled by tuition costs to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to receive the qualifications to work these jobs. Should Summa become a for-profit entity, employees would no longer qualify for the PSLF program.
- General Catalyst (GC) has a well-publicized history of war profiteering: Simultaneously pushing a global arms race while investing in high-tech weapon manufacturers. GC has boasted about its investments in “artificial intelligence” weapons, which pose a serious risk to the future of planetary wellbeing. GC has also defended Israel’s ongoing war crimes, as it has millions invested in its economy. These positions run counter to those who stand in solidarity with all those oppressed by war and colonialism.
- Those who oversee the health system should be those with the most invested in its success; in the case of Summa, these key stakeholders are its workers and the Greater Akron community. As such, the workers of Summa and the people of Greater Akron should be the ones to determine the conditions of their work and healthcare, not a board at Summa and profiteers at General Catalyst.

By signing this petition, I join the many conscientious community members who are opposed to the acquisition and privatization of Summa Health. Summa must become transparent and democratic and its management should be determined by those most invested in its success: the Greater Akron community, as well as its staff and care providers.