by the Federal Trade Commission , our anti-monopoly watchdog, this loophole in normal antitrust laws most often creates a regional monopoly that no longer answers to FTC oversight and pushes insurance companies to accept much higher prices — to the tune of a 20% to 38% increase. Additionally, the FTC reports hospital consolidation creates job lock, lowers worker wages by 4%-6.8%, and removes important incentives for maintaining quality.
Reforming just these two anti-market regulations would increase the number of providers in the market, remove practice prohibitions that keep existing providers from, well, providing, and work against monopoly pricing resulting from ever-increasing hospital consolidation. The that competition incentivizes lower prices, improves quality, and provides better patient access to treatment — we desperately need that.healthcare
system within the financial reach of most people, coupled with government aid to those who need extra financing help. Revision of harmful regulations is one part of much-needed comprehensive, pro-market reform that is necessary to create better accountability, affordability, and accessibility — all of which are essential for empowering all people to maneuver through a high-quality, affordable system to get the care they need.