The four health system CEOs summoned before a Congressional committee Tuesday likely breathed sighs of relief early in the hearing, when it became clear they had friends in the audience.
Instead, committee members largely blamed the other party’s health care policies for driving U.S. health care prices to levels inaccessible to many Americans.
The hearing was part of the House Ways and Means Committee’s effort to understand the root causes of rising health care costs in the U.S. It comes three months after the committee heard from the CEOs of the country’s largest health insurers, who largely deflected blame onto hospitals and drugmakers.
In attendance were the CEOs of some of the country’s largest health systems: HCA Healthcare, a for-profit system of 190 hospitals, and CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit system of 158 hospitals. The CEOs of New York-Presbyterian and North Carolina’s ECU Health were also there.
