North Texas News

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congressman Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), Chairman of the Budget Committee Health Care Taskforce, participated in the House Budget Committee hearing on “Breaking Up Health Care Monopolies: Examining the Budgetary Effects of Health Care Consolidation.”

During the hearing, Congressman Burgess criticized the Democrats’ uniform approach to health care, stating it has led to increased federal health care spending and higher costs for patients due to consolidation in U.S. health care markets.

Congressman Burgess began his questioning by asking Dr. Adam Burggeman about allowing physician ownership in rural areas to increase competition and reduce patient costs.

“Based on your experience working as a practicing orthopedic surgeon, what drives independent physicians to close their practices and turn to larger health systems and hospitals for employment?” asked Congressman Burgess.

Dr. Burggeman responded, “It’s like any other business. Any business, you have to balance the income and the expenses. When your income is constantly going down and your expenses constantly going up, and you went into medicine to take care of patients, not to deal with administrative burdens, people just give up. They say, ‘I’m going to give up autonomy, give up control of my practice, let somebody else worry about the balance sheet.’”

Burgess further inquired about the importance of physician ownership in countering forced consolidation.

Dr. Burggeman emphasized that physicians need to lead health care: “The critical piece is that physicians need to lead health care... If you’re able to knock out all of your competitors and not let physicians build hospitals or expand hospitals... We know from all the data that physician-owned hospitals provide at least as good if not better quality of care at a lower cost.”

Congressman Burgess concluded his questioning by asking Mr. Chapin White from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) why more consolidation leads to higher healthcare prices.

“Why hasn’t CBO recognized what Dr. Burggeman just said?” asked Congressman Burgess.

Mr. White replied that while there is potential price competition with competent hospitals if physician-owned hospitals are allowed new facilities or expansions, it might increase utilization: “In a sense that’s the flip side of the axis.”

Burgess pressed for data supporting these assumptions: “Can you provide us the models that you’ve used? Because I think they are fundamentally wrong... I’d like to see actual numbers on that.”

Background:

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, total U.S. healthcare spending exceeded $4.5 trillion in 2022—17.3% of GDP or $13,493 per person.

Healthcare system consolidation increases costs by enhancing market power and enabling entities to raise prices and service volumes.

The House Budget Committee aims to advance policies promoting free-market competition and reducing costs for taxpayers and patients.

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