Health Care Industry Consolidation: A Driving Force of the U.S. Health Care Affordability and Quality Crisis

The cost of health care in the U.S. has been rising at an unsustainable rate for far too long. Nearly half of all Americans have had to forgo medical care due to cost, and a third of them have indicated that the cost of medical care interferes with their ability to secure basic needs like food and housing.

It is time for our nation’s health care system to deliver on its obligation to provide high-quality, affordable and cost-effective care to the people of this country. Consumer organizations, employers, workers, and primary care clinicians stand united in calling for action to rein in growing trends of consolidation and pricing abuses that drive high costs. To be accountable for the health of all people in our nation, systems and resources must be reoriented. Congress and the Biden administration must take bold policy action in 2022 and beyond to address the U.S. health care affordability and quality crisis.