Economic Liberties submitted this comment in response to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) joint request for information (“RFI”) regarding consolidation in health care markets. The American Economic Liberties Project (“Economic Liberties”) is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization dedicated to understanding and addressing the problem of concentrated economic power in the United States.

We write to urge the DOJ, HHS, and FTC to conclude the information-gathering stage of their coordination and swiftly take concrete, decisive actions to stop harmful consolidation and monopolistic practices in the health care sector. People die when government policymakers actively maintain the status quo or pursue pseudo-solutions such as the “transparency dodge.”

As we will show in this comment, extensive information responsive to the RFI already exists and is readily available. Consolidation in healthcare markets has harmed patients, providers, and workers, while increasing costs for employers that provide health insurance, as well as taxpayers through Medicaid and Medicare. DOJ, FTC, and HHS can act within their existing authorities right now to address the problem of consolidation in healthcare.

Authorities must not lose sight of the big picture: America spends nearly twice as much on healthcare as other countries, with far worse outcomes, vast disparities, and an overworked and underpaid caretaking workforce. Solving this problem requires a robust “industrial policy” for health care–one that restores power to clinicians and patients, structures health care markets to foster fair competition, and builds and allocates resilient health care infrastructure that meets care needs and is insulated from corporate extraction. The administration can take a range of actions, today, to further this agenda, including enforcing antitrust laws, banning price discrimination practices that drive consolidation, adopting “Glass-Steagall” concepts in public programs, ending 2 corporate insurance subsidies, creating a public option for prescription drugs, and structurally addressing abusive prior authorization tactics.

Given the ample existing literature documenting the mechanics of consolidation and monopolistic practices as well as the harms they have wrought, there is no “need for additional proceedings” such as “workshops” or other prolonged information-gathering processes. Every additional day of delay in taking action is another day of letting the harms of consolidation compound.