Tag: health care consolidation

How Oregon’s Merger Review Law Combats Consolidation and What Other States Can Learn From It

Since the early 1990s, health care provider consolidation in states like Oregon has led to higher prices, reduced access, and worsened health inequities. In response, Oregon established the Health Care Market Oversight Program in 2022 to review major health care transactions, aiming to ensure they reduce costs and improve care access, especially for underserved populations. While the program has approved most transactions so far, concerns about transparency, resource adequacy, and high profit thresholds for review persist. CHIR’s Nadia Stovicek discusses the need for ongoing evaluation and improvement, and how other states can learn from Oregon.

Can Employer-Sponsored Insurance Be Saved? A Review of Policy Options: Limiting Provider Consolidation and Anti-Competitive Behavior

High and rising health care prices are a key driver of increased cost sharing in employer plans. A significant contributor to rising prices is the consolidation in health care provider markets. In the third post of a series on policy options to improve the affordability of employer-sponsored insurance, CHIR’s Maanasa Kona and Sabrina Corlette explore strategies to limit provider consolidation and anti-competitive behavior.

As Health Market Consolidation Grows, So Do Prices

The Justice Department just stepped in to prevent two health insurance mergers. The health care market consolidation trend isn’t new – insurers and provider groups alike just keep getting larger. But what does it mean for consumers? CHIR’s legal intern Emma Chapman examines the evidence.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the individual blog post authors and do not represent the views of Georgetown University, the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, any organization that the author is affiliated with, or the opinions of any other author who publishes on this blog.