Submitted by Rep. Spartz’s Press Office
This week, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.-05) published an op-ed for The Hill describing the hospital consolidation crisis engulfing the country.
Spartz
In the op-ed, Rep. Spartz wrote, “The hospital merger trend has reached untold heights, with over 1,500 mergers in the past 20 years … This lack of competition has significant consequences for patients. Hospitals in highly concentrated markets charge higher prices for medical services and negotiate higher prices from health insurance providers, resulting in higher insurance premiums.
“In my home state of Indiana, 91 percent of the hospital market is controlled by the largest hospital systems and over half of physicians are directly employed by the largest three hospital systems. As a result, Indiana has the 4th highest hospital facility prices in the country.
“Hospitals will argue that consolidation allows them to achieve economies of scale and thus provide better quality and more coordinated care to patients, but recent studies by Rice University and Harvard University suggest otherwise. In fact, a 2019 New York Times article by health economist Austin Frakt argues that rates of mortality increase when competition falls. Hence, not only is consolidation increasing the price of care, but it could be a matter of life or death for patients.
“The federal government created this hospital monopoly problem, so we now have two choices – either we restore competition by eliminating monopoly protections, or we form a complete monopoly – a full government takeover of health care. I prefer the former and have introduced legislation to remove barriers to competition and make health care more affordable for all Americans.”
Rep. Spartz introduced a legislative package this year aimed at removing barriers to competition and making health care more affordable for all Americans. The legislative texts can be viewed here and here.
Click here to read the full op-ed. For more information, please visit spartz.house.gov.