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Reprinted
from HIAA
Bill Exempting Ohio Doctors from Anti-Trust Laws Could Raise Health
Care Costs by $3.3 Billion, Study Warns
Ohio residents could see premiums rise by 11.9
percent
The Ohio legislature is considering a bill that would raise the state’s
total health care costs between $957 million and $3.3 billion a year,
according to a new study. The bill, which would exempt Ohio doctors
and health care professionals from anti-trust laws, also would raise
the cost of health insurance premiums paid by Ohioans between 4.1 percent
and 11.9 percent a year.
Anti-trust laws were enacted in the United States to prevent collusion,
price fixing and other anti-competitive activities. The Ohio Physician
Antitrust Waiver Legislation (H.B. 325), sponsored by Rep. James
Trakas, R-Independence, would drive up health costs by allowing doctors
to negotiate for higher fees and for weaker cost-control efforts by
health plans, the study says.
The study was conducted for the Health Insurance Association of America
by Monica G. Noether, Ph.D., former deputy assistant director and staff
economist for the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust office and
currently head of the Competition Practice at Charles River Associates,
an economic consulting firm based in Cambridge, Mass. According to Noether,
who will present her findings in testimony today before the Ohio House
of Representative’s Insurance Committee, the cost estimates “represent
a permanent increase in the level of expenditures beyond what is already
predicted from normal inflation.”
“Given the competitive nature of the private health insurance market,
it is likely that increases in costs would have to be passed on to employers
and, in turn, to their employees in the form of higher premiums,”
Noether says. “The legislation being considered in Ohio to grant
antitrust immunity to physicians and other health care professionals
could significantly increase consumer health costs.”
The study attributes these higher costs to two main factors: an increase
in the prices physicians and other health care providers would be able
to negotiate, and a reduction in the ability of health plans to manage
the utilization of services by their enrollees.
“H.B. 325 will likely take our health care system in the
opposite direction we want it to go, resulting in fewer Ohioans able
to afford quality health care and fewer employers able to provide health
insurance for their employees,” says Susan J. Montgomery, director
of environment and health care policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
According to David J. Hansen, managing director of public policy services
for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, “Many employers—the
source for most Americans’ health insurance—would respond
to higher costs in one of three ways: by offering less generous benefits,
asking employees to pay more, or dropping coverage altogether.”
# # #
About the author: Monica G. Noether is vice president and head of the
Competition Practice at Charles River Associates, where she specializes
in antitrust analysis. An expert in the economics of the health care
industry, she has analyzed the competitive effects of mergers among hospitals,
health plans, medical device and equipment makers, and physicians. She
also has examined economic questions related to liability and damages
in allegations of attempted monopolization and collusion by participants
in the health care industry, in intellectual property disputes, and in
fraud and abuse and kickback concerns. A former deputy assistant director
at the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees antitrust enforcement,
Dr. Noether has provided expert testimony in antitrust and reimbursement
litigation and has presented her policy research to Congress and government
agencies. Dr. Noether is a member of the American Bar Association, American
Economic Association, and the National Health Lawyers Association. She
is a referee for the American Economic Review, Journal of the American
Medical Association, among other professional journals. She earned her
doctorate in economics and master’s degree in business administration
from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business; her
master’s degree in economics from George Washington University;
and her bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University. |
