Health Care Marketplace: Cut Costs And Create Competition 

Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 1:19PM
Staff in Congress, Courtney Ann Jackson, FTC, Federal Trade Commission, Health Care, John Barrasso, News/Commentary, doctors

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

The issue of promoting competition and preventing rising health care costs was discussed by the Consumer, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee during a hearing Thursday morning.

“For too long, too many health care decisions have been made behind closed doors with industry profits, not the patient’s best interests in mind,” said Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.). “It is no surprise that without any transparency or the force of competition to keep them honest, industry profits soared, as have consumer costs and the barriers to necessary medical care.”

Representatives from various organizations including the Federal Trade Commission, New America Foundation, Center for American Progress, Arkansas Pharmacists Association and Galen Institute testified at the hearing.

Richard Feinstein, Director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commisssion (FTC), highlighted the need to prevent or stop anticompetitive agreements that raise health care prices. He said anitrust enforcement saves money that consumers, employers, and governments could spend on health care. All the panelists agreed that reform is needed, and more should be done to create more health care incentives for the public.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) also held a health care discussion of his own Thursday. Barrasso and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are hosting a new online show entitled “The Senate Doctors Show.” Barrasso and Coburn are the only doctors in the Senate and their new show will feature them answering questions from the public about health care proposals under debate in Congress.

“I think you ought to take the bill home, read it, talk to people about it. The best ideas don’t come from Washington...I think the American people have a right to expect to see the bill, read the bill, think about the bill, and come up with some suggestions,” said Barrasso.

"The Senate Doctors Show" is streamed live at http://republican.senate.gov/doctors every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00 p.m. EDT.

Article originally appeared on Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media (http://www.talkradionews.com/).