From her time as California's attorney general, Vice President Kamala Harris became known for her stance against healthcare consolidation. Hospitals, physician groups and payers looking to merge could face an uphill battle if she wins the presidential election in November.
Under the Biden administration, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice took an aggressive stance on healthcare mergers, according to an Aug. 5 article in Medical News. During his first year in office, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at intensifying antitrust enforcement across numerous industries, including healthcare.
"What Harris could do is set the tone that she is going to continue this laser focus on competition and health care prices," said Katie Gudiksen, a senior health policy researcher at University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, in the article.
Some analysts believeHarris' potential moves to block further mergers could possibly lead to higher prices and lower quality care and that consolidation is an "inescapable feature" of the U.S. healthcare system.
"It's hard to unscramble the eggs," said Bob Town, an economics professor at the University of Texas, in the article.
As attorney general of California, Harris fought anti-competitive pricing through a 2012 investigation into whether consolidation was directly empowering health systems to demand higher prices. The six-year probe eventually resulted in a lawsuit against Northern California-based Sutter Health, which settled with the state for $575 million.
Vice President Harris was also involved in a massive DOJ anti-merger lawsuit in 2016 that blocked a proposed $48.3 billion merger between Cigna and Anthem, two of the largest commercial payers in the U.S.