The Importance of Competitive Behavior in the Healthcare Sector

The exorbitant price of health insurance has caused firms to shed workers. This is not a natural disaster but rather one based on rent seeking, politically protected profiteering and weak enforcement of antitrust in the healthcare sector. Such anti-competitive behavior hurts consumers who face higher prices and workers who get hurt twice over through lower wages and higher prices when they spend those wages. Competition, one of the hallmarks of American capitalism has faded while arguably flourishing elsewhere.