Grassley Seeks FTC Assessment of Reported Health Insurance Scheme that May Increase Patients' Cost of Care

Statement

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today wrote to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons requesting the FTC conduct an assessment of potentially anticompetitive contracting practices between insurers and hospital systems in the United States deliberately designed to prevent consumers' access to quality, lower cost care.

"If true, these practices undermine Congress's efforts to lower the cost of, and increase access to, health care for millions across the country. … The last thing American patients and consumers need at this time is a health care system that permits or encourages anticompetitive agreements that hinder access to lower cost care," Grassley wrote. "It is critical for Congress to understand the FTC's perspective on these issues, including whether contractual provisions--like those highlighted in recent reports--impact the cost of health care in the United States and whether consolidation in the marketplace magnifies the impact of such provisions."

In the letter to Simons, Grassley cites a recent Wall Street Journal report alleging that "[d]ominant hospital systems use an array of secret contract terms to protect their turf and block efforts to curb health-care costs. … Other terms allow hospitals to mask prices from consumers, limit audits of claims, add extra fees and block efforts to exclude health-care providers based on quality or cost."

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