Congress was right to put hospital executives in the hot seat last month. But hearings alone will not lower healthcare costs.
Congress recently hauled CEOs from some of the nation’s largest hospital systems to Capitol Hill to answer for America’s soaring healthcare costs. And lawmakers didn’t pull their punches.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., accused hospitals of building “empires” and told executives that the prices they charge patients amount to “borderline extortion.”
The hearing underscored a reality Washington has been slow to confront. Hospitals are the primary drivers of rising health costs. They are consolidating markets, exploiting federal programs and using their growing leverage to raise prices for patients and taxpayers alike.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Healthcare costs keep rising. Hospitals are a big reason why.
Sally C. Pipes
Congress was right to put hospital executives in the hot seat last month. But hearings alone will not lower healthcare costs.
Congress recently hauled CEOs from some of the nation’s largest hospital systems to Capitol Hill to answer for America’s soaring healthcare costs. And lawmakers didn’t pull their punches.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., accused hospitals of building “empires” and told executives that the prices they charge patients amount to “borderline extortion.”
The hearing underscored a reality Washington has been slow to confront. Hospitals are the primary drivers of rising health costs. They are consolidating markets, exploiting federal programs and using their growing leverage to raise prices for patients and taxpayers alike.
Read the entire op-ed here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.