Hospital consolidation is a growing problem. Hospitals merge with rivals to gain market share and to increase bargaining power with health insurers. Market share allows hospitals to negotiate as a block of hospitals rather than individual hospitals competing with each other on price. Research has found that when hospitals merge prices in the area rises as competition is reduced. It generally starts as consolidation within a metropolitan area and then expands to other major markets within the state.
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Monday Links
- Prices that aren’t rising: drugs. In fact, they are falling.
- If global warming is bad for health, why do so few people die from excessive heat in India and Pakistan?
- BA.5 doesn‘t care if you’ve just had Covid-19.
- US men have the highest rate of avoidable deaths among developed countries. The Commonwealth Foundation blames capitalism.
- Paragon study: Insulin bill would raise costs, add to the federal deficit and hurt patients.
- Health care CEOs are doing well: more than 100 of them pulled in at least eight figures last year.
House GOP Health Task Force Way Too Timid
The plan is here.
Hate to be a killjoy but this is sort of like being in a fox hole and no one mentions there are bullets flying overhead. Why is it so difficult for Republicans to address the voters’ most basic problems? Like this:
- People should be able to buy insurance that meets their financial and health care needs– as an alternative to the outrageous deductibles and unaffordable premiums in the Democrat-created health insurance exchange plans.
- People with serious health problems should be able to buy insurance that gives them access to the doctors they need— as an alternative to the narrow provider networks in the Democrat-created health insurance exchange plans.
New Antibiotics Are Desperately Needed: Why Drug Makers Won’t Develop Them
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are a growing. Worse yet, the pipeline of new antibiotic drugs in development are few and far between. It’s been several years since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new antibiotic. The FDA recently declined to approve two new applications for drugs to treat urinary tract infections (sulopenem and tebipenem). The agency wants more data on the efficacy compared to drugs currently on the market. It’s not likely to get better anytime soon.