Too big to fail redux…
In an attempt to rein in costs the health care industry will consolidate. Is it about cost containment or profit margin? Can’t wait for all the health care consolidations.
One solution will be increased consolidation, with companies led by WellPoint Inc., the biggest U.S. insurer by enrollment, and Community Health Systems Inc., the largest publicly traded hospital chain, scooping up rivals unable to “spread rising costs across fewer customers,” said Paul Keckley, of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
The health-care market “certainly seems to favor bigger, innovative, scalable companies,” said Keckley, executive director of the Washington-based center, in a phone interview. Drugmakers facing the loss of patent protection on top-selling medicines “were looking at decelerating revenues, with or without reform,” he said.
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Of course the best solution would be a complete consolidation into a single entity… one might call this system a “single-payer” system.