Study Of Antitrust Issues In The Medical Field

This paper aims at studying and expounding the basic proposition that introducing competition mechanism into health care market and using antitrust law to maintain the order of competition are necessary and wise in the modern society. The two measures are the keys to achieving the aim of promoting low and affordable price and high quality of health care. For this purpose, the author makes a deep study of the logical relationship between antitrust practices preventing competition mechanism from moving smoothly and using antitrust law to maintain the order of competition.The demonstration of the above mentioned basis proposition consists of four parts:In partâ… , the author puts forward the proposition. The history of applying antitrust law to curb unreasonable restrictive practices is not long. It was the matter that occurred several decades ago, even if in some developed countries. Its occurrence was by no means accidental, but was the result of economical political social elements that combined together. However, introducing competition mechanism into health care market and using antitrust law in the market are arguable. In order to arguing against those statements, the author takes a systematic analysis of the imperfection of those statements, the economical political philosophical basis and the importance of using antitrust law to curb illegal antitrust practices in the market.In Partâ…¡, the author presents a panorama of the illegal antitrust practices. Varied unreasonable administrative restrictive practices and other antitrust practices are the biggest barriers to the normal order of competition in health care profession. Recognizing and studying their concrete manifestation and characteristics is the prerequisite to applying antitrust law to curb them. For this purpose, the author makes a deep study of the unreasonable restrictive or antitrust practices in the aspects such as market structure and market practices.In Partâ…¢, the author takes an overview of American antitrust law and its latest antitrust institutional design in the health care profession. The varied antitrust behaviors are regarded as the main reason of the unceasing rise of American health care cost since 1970s. Nowadays, America has enacted relatively perfect antitrust law institution to curb and regulate the varied antitrust behaviors, after the American Supreme Court making several milestone judgment decisions in 1970s. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Statements of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care, which was enacted in1993 and revised in 1994, is American latest institutional design of applying antitrust law in the health care profession, represents American rich experience in antitrust enforcement in the health care profession.In partâ…£, the author tries to make several suggestions on how to curb restrictive or antitrust practices in the health care market. The current law institution of regulating antitrust practices and safeguarding competition mechanism was aimed at solving antitrust problem in traditional industrial and commercial domain in our country. Therefore, it has some backward in solving antitrust problem in health care profession. Nowadays, the procedure of introducing competition mechanism into healthcare market becomes a tendency. So perfecting our competition, especially antitrust law, is becoming very urgent. This work must be done based on our country's characteristics of health profession, but our country can absorb some reasonable elements form American antitrust law. The author makes several suggestions from the points of enacting and perfecting our antitrust law and establishing the mechanism of judicial review.