The New York Times recently reported that in the past four years the 18 leading health insurers have combined into six. Consequently, physicians increasingly find themselves at the negotiating table with enormous health plan bureaucracies whose main interest is in the financial bottom line. Physicians ability to effectively advocate for quality care has been whittled away to the detriment of patients and efficient, effective health care delivery. The result is increasing control over health care by insurers that place cost and profitability before quality and individual patient care.
Insurers operate under an antitrust exemption.
Enormous health plan bureaucracies put health plan profits above patient care. Consumers are paying more but getting less. We thank you for introducing this bill that would improve patient care by restoring balance to negotiations between health plans and health care professionals. We share your belief that high quality health care can be driven by a truly competitive marketplace, not by the ability of health plans to dictate contract terms as a result of market power acquired by purchasing market share.