Ninety percent of major urban areas in the U.S. have little healthcare competition, allowing hospital systems and insurers to enjoy monopoly status to the detriment of patient care, according to a July 27 opinion piece from The Buckeye Institute.
Not only are such monopolies charging more for services, they are also reducing the quality of patient care because of the lack of competition, writes Rea Hederman Jr., vice president of policy at the free market-focused think tank.
"Higher prices for a lower quality service — what's not to love?" writes Mr. Hederman.
Patient pricing is opaque and leads to providers charging more by imposing so-called facility fees on outpatient sites owned by hospitals, he continues.
"It is hard to haggle over the bill or go searching for more affordable alternatives if the health care menu has no prices," according to the editorial.
Lawmakers at both federal and state levels need to put pressure on such increasingly monopoly-acting entities to create better transparency for patients, Mr. Hederman writes.