Each of the three agencies shared recent actions they said will spur competition.

The FTC touted several recent policy changes and lawsuits that aim to help consumers. "Decades of corporate consolidation have contributed to soaring costs across health care markets, with Americans now paying more for everything from lifesaving medicines to a hospital visit," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. "Safeguarding fair competition and rooting out unlawful business practices in health care markets is a top priority for the FTC. We will continue to fire on all cylinders to protect patients, health care workers and competition in these critical markets."
The Justice Department is reinvigorating antitrust enforcement to safeguard competition in health care markets and advocating to strengthen labor market competition for health care workers. "Protecting and promoting competition in health care markets is among the division's top priorities," said Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general in the antitrust division. "Absent competition, real people suffer real harms. Those harms are especially grave when we're talking about the medical care people depend on to live their lives. We are committed to weeding out anticompetitive practices and market consolidation that hinder Americans' access to quality care at affordable rates or deprive health care workers of fair wages and opportunity."
Priorities at HHS include cracking down on anticompetitive practices in Medicare Advantage; negotiating and lowering drug prices; and making hospital charges more transparent. "Competition in the marketplace lowers costs and spurs innovation," Secretary Xavier Becerra said. "The Biden-Harris Administration remains laser-focused on increasing access to high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, like by making hearing aids available for sale over-the-counter and lowering prescription drug costs through the Inflation Reduction Act."

Instant Insights /

Biden takes aim at 'price gouging' in health care: HHS, FTC, DOJ will partner up

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