How Can Competition Policy and Competition-Policy Economics Contribute to Solving the Healthcare Crisis?

Public policy makers around the world are concerned with the cost and quality of healthcare. I argue that competition-policy economics can make valuable contributions to solving the healthcare crisis by addressing four fundamental questions:Why don't insurance companies offer policies that generate greater consumer incentives to seek low-cost providers and generate increased price competition?How can consumers be provided with information that will induce stronger quality competition?What organizational structures promote the most efficient coordination among complementary care providers and between insurers and care providers?How do structure and conduct in markets for healthcare insurance and healthcare services affect the incentives to create and adopt new healthcare goods and services?Preliminary lines of research to address these questions are identified and discussed.