Indiana Hospitals Do Not Have a "Monopoly Problem"

28 October 2019
Dr. Paul Wong

Healthcare is an important sector of the US economy, and it is well agreed among economists and policy makers that lower cost, higher quality healthcare is an important policy goal. Likewise, it is generally well agreed that greater competition in healthcare – be it hospitals, physicians, insurers, or pharmaceuticals – will help in realizing these goals and, ultimately, benefit end consumers.

In this report, Associate Director Dr. Paul Wong and former Consultant Dr. Yun Ling, review the evidence on hospital concentration in Indiana presented in a recent policy brief which concluded that Indiana hospitals face a “monopoly problem.” Dr. Wong and Dr. Ling conducted an independent analysis using techniques common in analyzing antitrust matters and determined that competition among hospitals in Indiana is on par with the rest of the nation.