Rep. Tom Price said lack of competition in the health-care industry is one of the lead causes of high costs, in a video released Wednesday.
In addition to the three largest factors in rising costs – taxes, over regulation, and the abuse of lawsuits – which the House Committee on the Budget chairman said is a problem for all businesses, he believes the shortage in competition is unique in the way it impacts the industry.
“Really there’s no competition because the prices are set by and large by the federal government or by the insurance companies,” he said. “That’s an area that if we were to have that dynamism of a patient-centered market it would allow for real competition in the system that would also drive down costs.”
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Price, who was a practicing physician before taking office and headed the GOP health care task force, argued the system needs to shift toward a patient-centered model if costs are to come down.
Health care costs have gone up substantially since Obamacare’s implementation. According to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums on silver plans are expected to go up an additional 9 percent in 2017.
The House GOP’s blueprint calls for a change in policy that would promote insurance companies to compete against each other to drive down princes, unlike the Affordable Care Act’s attempt to create winners and losers through it’s failed co-op program.
Due to being hit with significant losses, a number of major heath insurance companies, most recently Aetna, have pulled out of the majority of Obamacare exchanges.
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