> My local eye doctor was bought out by a PE firm.

All new equipment and better service is great for you. There are serious disadvantages for your eye doctor though: he no longer enjoys the autonomy and freedom of his own medical practice. Lack of autonomy is a major cause of insatisfaction in medicine. Hopefully he got some fat stacks of cash to compensate for that. As a society though, nothing compensates for the fact we're approaching the fabled "you'll own nothing" future.