Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement celebrating a new class action lawsuit by Western North Carolina residents against HCA Healthcare (HCA). The suit (PDF), filed in North Carolina Superior Court, takes aim at the anticompetitive practices HCA has used to raise prices across Western North Carolina for both inpatient and outpatient hospital services. 

“As the complaint meticulously documents, HCA Healthcare schemed to build a hospital monopoly so that it could raise prices for patients forced to rely on HCA for emergency services,” said David Barclay, Legal Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project “That doesn’t just sound illegal; it is — and for good reason. HCA’s anticompetitive schemehurt patients, providers, and everyone paying for healthcare in Western North Carolina. This lawsuit, brought on behalf ofpatients, is an important part of holding HCA liable for those anticompetitive actions — but it should only be the beginning. North Carolina and federal antitrust authorities must also investigate HCA and address the ongoing crisis of consolidation and monopolization within the hospital industry in North Carolina and across the country.”

For more information on the threat health care monopolies pose — and the policy solutions to address them — see“Break ‘Em Up: How Health Care Monopolies Hurt Patients, Health Care Workers, and Communities.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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