The Sleeper Health Cost Policy

(By Drew Altman for Kaiser Family Foundation published July 22, 2021)

Presidents Biden’s Executive Order instructing agencies to develop policies to promote competition in the economy hasn’t received much attention, but could lead to new efforts to control health costs if his administration and Congress respond with measures to stem consolidation in the health care industry and promote competition to drive down prices.

The research is clear that consolidation in the hospital industry drives up costs, in some cases by as much as fifty percent. Perhaps surprisingly consolidation generally does not improve quality of care. Insurers and employers are not in a position to bargain for lower prices with hospitals or to establish narrower networks they believe deliver greater value when one or two hospital systems are the only games in town and own most of the medical practices.  Continue reading the column here…

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