While the Biden administration made headlines with its recent antitrust lawsuits against Apple, Google and Ticketmaster, its actions in the healthcare industry ran under the radar.
Last month, the Justice Department announced a new task force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion. Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for antitrust, said the group’s mission was to “identify and root out monopolies and collusive practices” that increased costs and decreased quality of care.
The task force was announced months after Justice launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth, America’s largest health insurer.
“I think it’s important to not focus on any one specific matter,” Kanter said at the 2024 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference. “Because I think the body of work, and it’s really across both agencies, speaks more to the progress I believe that we’re making.”
Despite the lofty rhetoric, Kanter and ally Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, have a mixed court record.
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