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AEIdeas:
New study casts doubt on Obamacare's wisdom of encouraging hospital mergers

15 December 2015

Three of the nation's largest insurance companies - Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealth - have let researchers have a look at the negotiated prices they pay for services and procedures like C-sections, MRIs and hospital stays. ... [Zack] Cooper said the team, including John Van Reenen from the London School of Economics and the University of Pennsylvania's Stuart Craig, controlled for all those factors. And Cooper said market power matters more than the rest. The report found after decades of mergers, nearly a third of U.S. markets have monopolies, or are close to having monopolies.

This article was published online by AEIdeas on December 15, 2015
Link to article here

Related publications
'The Price Ain't Right? Hospital Prices and Health Spending on the Privately Insured', Zack Cooper, Stuart Craig, Martin Gaynor and John Van Reenen, Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No.1395, December 2015

Related links
Zack Cooper webpage
John Van Reenen webpage
Growth Programme webpage

Read more... AEIdeas