FTC to Hold Media Briefing about FTC/DOJ Joint Health Care and Competition Law and Policy Hearings

Health care currently composes one-seventh of the U.S. gross domestic product, and concerns about cost, quality, and access are significant areas of policy interest. The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for enforcing competition law and policy. As part of the FTC's ongoing commitment to health care policy research and development, it is jointly sponsoring hearings on health care and competition law and policy with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The FTC will hold a media briefing on Wednesday, February 26 to discuss the goals and objectives of these hearings.

The first session of hearings will take place from February 26-28, 2003. Subsequent sessions will be held for three to five days per month over the next seven months. The media briefing will focus on the agenda for the first session: an overview of the actual performance of the health care market with regard to cost, quality and access, the significance of competition in the health care market, and the difficulties that have resulted from current conditions. Representatives from the payer, provider and employer communities also will offer their perspectives on these issues. Special attention will be paid to conditions in Boston, MA, and Little Rock, AR, which present two distinct perspectives on the performance of the health care market. The media briefing also will address ways the FTC intends to use the information gathered from the hearings.