Over the past year, Americans have seen the cost of health care go through the roof. American workers and their employers are seeing their premiums go up. The cost of essential medicine continues to be out of reach. Deductibles and co-pays on visits to the hospital are sending families into spirals of debt. 

Americans are worried that the health care industry – insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and other Big Medicine giants – are profiting at their expense.  

In nearly every state, we’ve seen the effects of consolidation in hospitals, pharmaceutical giants, and insurance companies. A few players dominate the market, giving them the power to raise prices. At the same time, Congress and the White House are enacting policies that are driving up costs even more.  

While politicians and bureaucrats in our nation’s capital are making things worse, progressive state attorneys general are scrutinizing each piece of the health care puzzle. They’re successfully blocking further health care price hikes and pushing for reform. 

Insurance & Benefits

Over the years, health insurance giants have turned into sprawling conglomerates that own medical practices and facilities. Other companies, known as pharmacy benefit managers, act as middlemen in the prescription drug market.  

With insurance premiums rising, progressive state attorneys general have been cracking down on fraud and taking on the practices that inflate costs. Last week,  Attorney General of Massachusetts Andrea Campbell sued one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies for manipulating information to defraud the state’s Medicaid program to the tune of $100 million. Many other states have sued pharmacy benefit managers for deceptive practices to push up prices of critical medications like insulin. 

Hospitals & Facilities 

For too many families, one unexpected visit to the emergency room or an overnight stay in the hospital can send them into a financial tailspin. And when hospitals and other health care companies acquire their competitors, patient care can also suffer. 

Progressive state attorneys general are closely scrutinizing health care mergers. And for mergers that already took place, state attorneys general are making sure those hospitals are holding up their end of the bargain while cracking down on surprise medical bills and other price gouging practices. Progressive state attorneys general are also making sure that harmful hospital mergers are stopped and scrutinized in the pre-merger stage to combat market concentration and rising costs in healthcare.  For example, Attorney General of Rhode Island Peter Neronha issued a regulation requiring pre-merger notification when medical practice group mergers include private equity firms.   

Generic Drugs 

One of the ways to bring down costs of expensive pharmaceuticals is by introducing generic drug competition. While generic drugs offer the same therapeutic benefits as brand name drugs, they are far cheaper. For years, federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission would crack down on pharmaceutical companies that devised tactics to block generic drug companies from entering the market. But federal agencies have stopped enforcing a wide range of laws. 

But now, state attorneys general have uncovered price-fixing tactics that drive up the cost of generic drugs. Led by the Attorney General William Tong of Connecticut, the investigations have charged companies and their executives with conspiracies to manipulate or otherwise artificially inflate prices on life-saving drugs. 

Progressive state attorneys general will continue to investigate and take action against companies that defraud taxpayers, degrade patient care, and deceptively push up the price when we get sick. 

Rohit Chopra is the former Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a former Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. He serves as a senior adviser to the Progressive State Leaders Committee.