GOVERNMENTJustice Dept. to subject plans to antitrust scrutinyThe government also will continue to keep a watchful eye on physicians, hospitals and others for anticompetitive activity.By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. Oct. 7, 2002. Federal antitrust officials are beginning to turn their attention toward health insurance companies -- a move that pleases physicians, who have complained that they are scrutinized more than health plans. A Justice Dept. official in September said an uptick in the number of health insurance companies consolidating in recent years had sparked interest in the trend's effect on competition among plans. "Given these ongoing market changes, we will pay close attention to whether any particular merger would give the merged insurer sufficient market power to increase prices or reduce quality in the sale of managed care plans in specific geographic areas or to acquire monopsony power over providers," said Deborah Platt Majoras, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Division. She spoke at a Federal Trade Commission workshop held in Washington, D.C. The Justice Dept. already has looked at the health insurance market in a "major metropolitan area" for possible evidence of coordination or collusion among managed care plans, she said. The department also investigated Philadelphia-area physicians' complaints that a dominant insurance company's use of a form of the all-products clause was anticompetitive, Majoras said. "Furthermore, we continue to receive and evaluate complaints about managed care plans' use of most-favored-nations clauses to determine if they merit more complete investigation and, ultimately, any enforcement action," she said. Representatives from the health plan industry said they weren't aware of anticompetitive activity and were not concerned about the oversight.
[...]
Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2002 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
|
Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
Most-viewedNov. 23 issueAMA meeting: Delegate vote refines AMA stance on system reform Liability premiums stay stable, but insurers warn this might not last Columns and series
From the vault: 5 years agoState tort reform ballot wins set stage for further battles Nov. 22, 2004 
|
SHARE
