Ayer

Gov. Maura Healey's plan to rescue five bankrupt Steward Health Care hospitals could cost Massachusetts taxpayers $700 million by 2027, the Boston Globe reported Saturday, citing "people with direct knowledge of the bailout plan."

Slamming an "impotent charade of oversight," the state's largest nurses union renewed its call for the Healey administration to prevent the closure of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center after regulators said both facilities provide "essential service."

Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center each provide an "essential service necessary for preserving access and health status" in their areas, public health regulators concluded this week.

"Enough is enough," Gov. Maura Healey declared Friday as she announced that all the bankrupt Steward Health Care hospitals still up for sale have new owners lined up and that the state is going to assist in the transitions with financing and, in one case, the use of its property-taking powers.

A lawyer representing Steward Health Care said in court Friday morning that the company is "close" to signing purchase agreements for at least five of its six for-sale hospital campuses in Massachusetts.

Steward Health Care said late Wednesday night that it has again postponed the sales hearing for its hospitals in Massachusetts, this time to next Thursday.

Tuesday's bankruptcy court hearing on the sale of as many as five Steward Health Care hospitals in Massachusetts has been postponed until Friday.

Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre was on vacation two weeks ago when his company revealed that it planned to close two hospitals in Massachusetts, but he didn't have a hand in the decision or any say in the timing of the announcement, a spokesperson for the embattled executive said Thursday.

With frustrations mounting over the closure of Carney Hospital at the end of August, the Boston City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday calling for a public health emergency and applying new pressure on the state to protect patient care.

"Things are moving quickly I think right now in the bankruptcy court," Healey told reporters at the State House. "I'm cautiously optimistic but it's right now in the hands of the lenders."