New Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy

On Friday, July 9, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the US economy through 72 initiatives by federal agencies that will address anti-competitive practices in multiple industries.

The Administration will review guidelines, practices and policies that inhibit competitions and will enforce antitrust laws to combat the excessive concentration of industry. Of particular interest to ASA, includes evaluation of:

• Healthcare markets; including insurance, and hospital consolidation.
• Non-compete clauses
• Occupational licensure restrictions

The Administration highlights that hospital consolidation can be harmful and encourages agencies to reevaluate hospital mergers to ensure patients are not harmed. The order specifically encourages the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban or limit non-compete agreements and unnecessary occupational licensing restrictions that impede economic mobility. ASA has long advocated to ensure the FTC does not enforce policies that compromise quality patient care in the name of competition.

The executive order also establishes a White House Competition Council that will meet semi-annually to advance efforts to address overconcentration, monopolization, and unfair competition.

The executive order also notes that the Administration will support enactment of a public health insurance option.

ASA will continue to monitor developments of this Executive Order. 

Read the full Fact Sheet here.