A new Texas 2036 health care poll shows most Texas voters are concerned about government regulation of health care mergers.
Texas 2036 is a nonpartisan public policy research and advocacy organization. They're thinking about the future of the state, which will turn 200 in just over a decade. A poll of 1,001 Texans was conducted by Texas 2036 in November. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed agreed that states should more aggressively regulate health care mergers.
Health Policy Director Charles Miller said this kind of interest is new to his research.
“I don't think this reflects a shift away from Texas' competitive, free-market values, but the health care market is broken and a little less regulation may be needed to restore competition.” “I think it shows that people are aware of that,” he said.
Last year, HB 711 banned anti-competitive contracting practices and allowed employers to steer patients to higher-performing facilities. Miller said that hasn't happened in the past.
“Imagine there are regions where there is only one hospital that actually provides births,” he said. “Every employer, every plan is going to have to include that hospital in their network because they don't have a choice.
There may be a lot of primary care physicians in that area, so there might be a competitive market there, but if the health systems that own those hospitals also start buying up some of those doctors' practices, may say to the employer: ”If you want our hospital to be in your network, you have to put all of our doctors in your network. Additionally, you may not direct or encourage employees to go elsewhere. Regardless of price, regardless of quality. ”
Miller said when a large health system acquires a small clinic, it can lead to increased facility fees.
91% of those surveyed believe Texans have a right to know who owns their hospitals, clinics and health insurance companies. Miller added that greater price transparency will be required in the coming year.
“We believe there is significant influence and interest in advancing efforts around price transparency,” he said. “We want to remove some of the barriers that insurers and employers currently face in ranking providers and communicating that information to providers, and to create greater transparency around quality. And there are also some barriers in place that prevent these health benefit plans from directing or incentivizing employees into such high-value care.”
The full pamphlet for the poll, released last week, is available online.
