Huguette Clark was born into an empire...
Her father, William A. Clark, amassed a vast fortune through copper mining. He soon became one of the wealthiest men in the U.S.
In 1911, William built a grand mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The 121-room palace was considered one of the most luxurious residences of its time.
And when her father died shortly before her 19th birthday in 1925, Clark inherited his vast fortune. That solidified her place as one of the richest women in the world.
Despite her immense wealth and social status, Clark left the public eye as soon as she could. As the decades passed, she became more isolated.
Clark cut off most of her friends and family, worried that they were after her money. She sat surrounded by her doll collection, abandoning the opulent life of her childhood for meals of crackers and tinned fish. Cartoons played in the background.
Clark probably would've kept living like that if her health hadn't gotten in the way...
Clark's diet and lifestyle left her rail-thin at just 75 pounds. She also developed tumors all over her face that prevented her from seeing or eating.
So she checked herself into Doctors Hospital.
It should've been a short stay. After a few months, Clark was in good health again. She had several surgeries to remove the tumors, and she regained some strength.
Her physician suggested she move home with full-time care. Rather than following the doctor's orders, though, Clark turned Doctors Hospital into her home.
As worried as Clark was about folks trying to steal her money, she was plenty willing to throw it away. She paid the hospital $829 per day – more than $300,000 per year – over the next 20 years.
That was cheap compared with the cost of her daytime caregiver...
Clark was randomly assigned a private-duty nurse named Hadassah Peri. These gigs are usually temporary. But Peri quickly realized this one was worth sticking around for.
The two were holed up in the same room for 12 hours a day. And they talked a lot. One day, Peri mentioned that her apartment building had a flood in the basement. So Clark gave her $450,000 to buy a house.
She wrote her caregiver more than 200 checks in total, worth over $17 million, throughout her two-decade hospital stay. She even gifted $30,000 to a nurse she never met because she took care of Clark's stockbroker.
In all, Clark signed off on more than $44 million in gifts in her last 20 years... not including the cost of her nurses or her expensive hospital room.
Clark lived all the way to 104 despite showing up to the hospital in bad condition.
Her case shows why hospitals are still the top choice for most folks who need medical attention...
They're built to handle just about any health issue. So they have round-the-clock staffing and specialized equipment.
That means hospitals can address complex, high-risk cases, like Clark's.
Good hospitals don't come cheap, though...
The average cost of a one-day hospital stay is about $3,000. Over the past two decades, it has risen a staggering 175%.
This trend is now forcing patients to look for alternatives.
It's why ambulatory surgery centers ('ASCs') are becoming more popular...
ASCs specialize in minimally invasive, same-day procedures. So, in general, an ASC visit costs much less than a hospital visit for the exact same care.
A hospital colonoscopy, for example, cost about $1,600 in 2022. In an ASC, that same procedure was $600 less.
ASCs don't invest as much in health care infrastructure... things like complex surgery, emergency care, and diagnostics. This helps keep overall costs down.
It's simple... The more procedures that go through ASCs (rather than hospitals), the more money consumers, health insurers, and taxpayers save. Medicare alone is poised to save about $12 billion by 2028.
As we discussed yesterday, this lines right up with the Trump administration's goal of making the health care industry more cost-efficient.
Health care might be a tricky investment in 2026. But companies that operate ASCs could benefit as the industry looks to tighten spending.
Joel Litman
January 7, 2026
