HBR's 10 Must Reads for Healthcare Leaders Collection

Health Care Needs Real Competition

by Leemore S. Dafny and Thomas H. Lee

HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, more Americans have access to health care than ever before. The bad news? The care itself hasn’t improved much. Despite the hard work of dedicated providers, our health care system remains chaotic, unreliable, inefficient, and crushingly expensive.

There is no shortage of proposed solutions, many of which have appeared in these pages. But central to the best of them is the idea that health care needs more competition. In other sectors of the economy, competition improves quality and efficiency, spurs innovation, and drives down costs. Health care should be no exception.

Industry executives may think ...