Rural Health Care and State Antitrust Reform

Posted by Social Science Research Network

Rural Health Care and State Antitrust Reform–  Michael S. Jacobs (DePaul University)

Abstract: Two premises underlie state health care antitrust law reform measures. The first presumes that the federal antitrust laws prevent efficiency-enhancing collaborations and that, by displacing the federal regime, states can encourage health care firms to generate cost savings that they in turn will pass on to consumers. The second presumes that rural markets in particular will benefit from the continued presence of their “traditional” health care providers now threatened with extinction and that provider cooperation laws will resuscitate firms that would otherwise perish.