U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.-05) on Thursday introduced several healthcare bills meant to improve hospital competition and healthcare value.
Spartz
“The current hospital price situation is unacceptable and unsustainable,” Rep. Spartz said. “We, as a government, created this powerful monopoly problem, and now owe it to the American people to fix it.”
Based on RAND studies performed by the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, Indiana has some of the highest prices of healthcare in the nation and significant hospital market consolidation.
These first seven bills are part of a package aiming to address material hospital monopoly issue, which: repeal Obamacare prohibitions on physician-owned hospitals; improve oversight of anticompetitive behaviors of non-profit hospitals; require transparency and eliminate abuses in hospital billing; provide more patient choice; improve competition on state healthcare markets; assess anticompetitive clauses in healthcare contracts; and improve availability of medical residency programs.
“Congresswoman Spartz is leading the fight to lower health costs and put money back into the pockets of hard-working Americans with her legislation,” President of Council for Affordable Health Coverage Joel White said. “To further promote competition, Congress should adopt these bills to set the right conditions for market rivalries. The result could be electric, reducing the price of medical services, and lowering premiums significantly.”
Rep. Spartz is working to introduce additional bills later this month to improve transparency of non-profit hospital reporting and associations.