IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v40y2026i2p93-116.html

The Current Era of Health Care Consolidation

Author

Listed:
  • Michael R. Richards
  • Christopher M. Whaley

Abstract

Consolidation in the last few decades has reshaped the organization and structure of US health care markets, among both providers and insurers. Nearly all US hospital and insurer markets exceed established regulatory thresholds for competitive markets, and over half of physicians are now employed by a hospital or health system, which can increase spending for patients, payers, and taxpayers. Increased supply-side concentration can alter the balance of negotiations between providers and insurers. Prices for patients with commercial insurance are approximately 2.5 times the prices paid by those with public insurance. High and variable prices have minimal link with higher quality, and the United States leads peer nations in health care spending. These dynamics have created ongoing national debates over an "affordability crisis" and generates frustrations with the US health care system. This article discusses sources of rising health care spending and potential policy solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael R. Richards & Christopher M. Whaley, 2026. "The Current Era of Health Care Consolidation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 93-116, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:40:y:2026:i:2:p:93-116
    DOI: 10.1257/jep.20251472
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/jep.20251472
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/25107
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/jep.20251472?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:40:y:2026:i:2:p:93-116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.