Vertical relationships between health insurers and healthcare providers

Abstract

The current institutional reforms in the Dutch healthcare sector may increase the extent of vertical relations (such as vertical contracts and vertical integration) between insurers and healthcare providers. Vertical relations may have both welfare increasing and welfare reducing effects. In this study, we focus on the latter, in particular on anticompetitive foreclosure. We distinguish three possible mechanisms that may lead to anticompetitive foreclosure, called respectively 'exclusivity', 'sabotage', and the 'waterbed effect'. We discuss under which conditions they come into play and which policy measures can prevent them.