Elizabeth Mitchell was interviewed for Modern Health’s piece on Sutter’s $575 million antitrust settlement.
“Northern California’s insurance premiums have been 25% to 35% higher than those in Southern California, and healthcare prices have been 40% to 70% higher, said Elizabeth Mitchell, CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health.
“That is really coming out of wages and business growth and innovation and this will really be a positive impact for the California economy and workforce,” she said.
Twenty PBGH members are class members in the Sutter lawsuit. Mitchell said her organization is particularly pleased to see the settlement’s injunctive relief, which will create new “rules of the road” to stop anticompetitive practices by Sutter and even other providers in California and beyond.
“This is an issue for all employers and the people for whom they purchase care,” she said. “Healthcare costs are really in crisis in this county. We think this is one part of a solution to really create a market in which care can be made affordable.”
Read the article here.