Washington, D.C. — In response to news that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has passed HB 2344, a bill empowering the state attorney general to examine and rein in health care consolidation, by a bipartisan vote of 114-88, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Today’s vote is an encouraging step towards protecting Pennsylvania residents and workers from the harms of rampant healthcare consolidation,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Local Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The record is clear: Healthcare industry mergers lower wages, degrade working conditions, stifle union organizing, and reduce access to and quality of care. In Pennsylvania, the abuses of the notorious monopolist UPMC have provided devastating testimony to these facts. Now, 114 state legislators have bravely responded to this crisis by approving a common-sense bill to stem the tide of consolidation, and the state Senate should follow suit without delay.”

Read Pat Garofalo’s support memo for HB 2344 here.

Read Pat Garofalo’s testimony before the Pennsylvania House Labor and Industrial Committee on the harms of healthcare monopsonies here.

Read “Critical Condition: How UPMC’s Monopoly Power Harms Workers and Patients,” 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.