Portland, OR — Today, a group of health law and policy experts, including Hayden Rooke-Ley from the American Economic Liberties Project, submitted a public comment to the Oregon Health Authority strongly opposing the proposed merger between Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Legacy Health. The comment highlights the merger’s potential to raise healthcare costs without improving quality or equity and argues for legislative and policy solutions to address the underlying causes of healthcare consolidation in the state.

“This merger represents a significant risk for Oregon’s healthcare system,” said Hayden Rooke-Ley, Senior Fellow for Healthcare at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The evidence is clear: consolidation like this often increases prices, reduces access for underserved communities, and fails to deliver on promises of efficiency and improved care. If Legacy is in need of financial support—which remains very much an open question—Oregon has better options than to bless a monopoly that could harm patients and workers for years to come.”

The comment’s analysis reveals that the merger would create a dominant market position for OHSU in the Portland area, leading to significant price hikes while threatening access to essential services for low-income and Medicaid patients. The comment also critiques OHSU’s capacity and commitment to equitably manage such a monopoly, citing concerns about recent mismanagement and operational challenges.

The public comment urges the Health Care Market Oversight (HCMO) program to block the merger and calls on state legislators to pursue alternative solutions to a raft of proposed hospital mergers in the state.

Read the full comment letter here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.