KEY POINTS
  • Putting an end to surprise medical billing is one of the White House's top health-care priorities this spring.
  • Stephen Schwarzman's private equity firm Blackstone Group owns a company called TeamHealth, a physician practice firm that specializes in emergency medicine.
  • The company has been criticized for sending its own "surprise" bills to patients.

In the White House's Green Room, President Donald Trump lavished praise on a longtime supporter and friend: billionaire investor Stephen Schwarzman, who was at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. that day to celebrate the signing of the "phase one" trade deal with China.

In the ornate parlor, Trump dubbed the financier "the great Steve Schwarzman" and Schwarzman responded in kind, thanking the president and calling the Jan. 15 signing of the deal "an important day."