Fresh off the Federal Trade Commission’s successful challenges to four hospital mergers, the Biden administration’s new majority on the commission is primed to more aggressively combat consolidation in the health care industry than it has in past years.
Although hospital mergers were supposed to improve cost efficiency, experts agree that the creation of huge conglomerates and hospital networks has driven up U.S. medical costs, which are by far the highest in the world. Many enjoy near-monopoly pricing power.
Last year, President Joe Biden ordered the FTC and other federal agencies to promote market competition in health care and other industries. Biden said hospital mergers and acquisitions had left the 10 largest health care systems in control of a quarter of the market and led to the closure of hospitals in rural and other underserved areas.
