Corporations should bypass health insurers and negotiate contracts directly with hospitals, according to two University of California, Berkeley professors.
In an op-ed published by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Richard Scheffler, PhD, a health economics and public policy professor, and Daniel Arnold, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in health economics, pointed to organizations such as Intel, Boeing, Walmart and Lowe's as examples of private companies assuming risk and operating as their own payer.
The professors referenced their study published in Health Affairs this month as evidence direct relationships between corporations and providers could lower consumer costs. They argued with enough market power, corporations "could reduce provider prices in highly concentrated provider markets and pass them on to their members. They could also use their market power to get volume discounts on procedures such as knee and hip replacements," the op-ed reads.
"These private and public sector approaches would seem to be a useful way to start to repair the healthcare market," the researchers' op-ed concluded.
For the full op-ed, click here.
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