Better late than never, state legislatures are now moving to review proposed mergers to determine the mergers' effects on health care spending, access, and quality. (Image: Chris Nicholls)
More states are taking an active role in addressing the factors that can artificially skew the cost and effectiveness of employee benefits packages.
As legislators and regulators educate themselves on health care's Byzantine financial structure, they are moving on from more general (and unenforceable) "goals" such as setting ceilings for overall health care cost growth. Initially, state legislatures tended to prioritize measures designed to increase access to insurance and medical care for individuals. Now, more are homing in on such matters as anti-competitive practices, pharmaceutical costs, merger review, and surprise billings that would directly benefit employer plan sponsors.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
