Hadley Heath Manning, director of health policy for the Independent Women’s Forum, wrote the blog.
Here are five notes:
1. The Justice Department has attempted to block mergers between insurance giants Cigna and Anthem as well as Humana and Aetna.
2. The department filed lawsuits against these mergers noting they will negatively affect competition in the insurer market, thereby reducing options for consumers.
3. According to Ms. Manning, the current healthcare system also lacks competition, a problem which would single-payer system would make worse.
4. A single-payer system would result in all the negative effects that the Justice Department outlined in its anti-merger lawsuits, namely less competition, higher costs and lack of access to care.
5. Ms. Manning suggests the government focus on encouraging “a more robust, competitive market with consumers at the center.”
More articles on ASC coding & billing:
Humana brings Ameritox to court for false & fraudulent claims; seeks to recover millions: 5 key insights
Escalating drug prices will hurt Medicare’s catastrophic prescription coverage: 5 things to know
The payer megamerger deals may soon unravel, leaving the ACA exchanges to suffer another blow: 5 points
