Oregon is looking at regulation of health care consolidation

Oregon legislators have already directed a task force to come up with a way state government could essentially replace health insurance and have the state become a single-payer health care system. Legislators is looking this week at if the state should interfere more when parts of the health system attempt to consolidate.

For instance, Kroger plans to take over Albertsons. That could change access to prescription drug services. How much should the state be involved?

Hospital ownership can consolidate. Insurers can. Clinics can. The consolidation can be between companies that do similar things. Or it can be companies that offer different things. It can be regional or even across states.

The net result doesn't have to be bad. The analysis prepared for legislators this week looks mostly at how it can be bad - less competition can mean higher prices with no improvement in quality, no improvement in health of patients and even a reduction in access to care.

The Oregon Health Authority can already approve, disapprove or approve deals with conditions. What more should Oregon do?

We don't know where this discussion is headed. But state government is controlled by Democrats. Democrats generally see more government control as a good thing, moreso than Republicans.