Health Plans Support Competition to Benefit Consumers
WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's Health Insurance Plans today issued the following statement in response to media reports about competition in health care:
"Over decades, agencies of government charged with antitrust oversight have carefully and thoroughly examined the health care marketplace and have concluded that health insurance plans operate in highly competitive markets and that consumers have numerous choices in the types of plans and in insurers.
"Our nation's antitrust laws are designed to protect consumers, not to advantage providers or advance a political agenda.
"Studies over many years have shown clearly that rising health care costs are the result of increases in hospital costs, increases in physician expenses, and increases in the cost of pharmaceuticals. To the extent that research has raised the question of competition as a factor in rising health care costs, it has pointed to consolidation among providers, not health plans.
"A recent letter from American Hospital Association to the Department of Justice (DOJ) asks the department to take a 'more aggressive role in understanding how health plan market power and consolidation harm hospitals and other providers.' This letter uses erroneous data to draw an erroneous conclusion that, unfortunately, is being used today by advocates for creating a public program in health care reform to justify their position.
"We are forwarding today to the DOJ a letter reiterating our concerns with hospital consolidation through merger and affiliation, and its effect on costs for consumers. As the nation pursues health care reform, our public discourse must be based on the facts and must be focused on what the outcome of our discussion will mean for consumers and the economic health of our nation."
America's Health Insurance Plans - Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200 Million Americans
