FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya
Consumer groups want antitrust probe of hospital suppliers
The middlemen who buy things like medical equipment for hospitals have vastly consolidated their control of the marketplace in recent decades, nine consumer groups are saying. Now the groups want the Federal Trade Commission to mount a formal investigation to see if the companies are stifling competition among medical suppliers, artificially raising costs and unnecessarily […]
Newest federal regulator wants the little guy to be the focus of antitrust enforcement
From groceries to prescriptions to paychecks, the modern American business landscape makes it increasingly difficult for poorer Americans to get what they need to survive, Alvaro Bedoya, the newest member of the Federal Trade Commission, said in an interview late last month. The consequences have taken the form of food and pharmacy "deserts" and in a paucity of jobs that pay a living wage. "I want to focus on the folks at the bottom of the ladder and are trying to move up and not fall off," he said.
Antitrust regulator takes aim at drug middlemen
The newest member of the Federal Trade Commission last week said that for decades his agency hasn’t served the historical mission of the agency — fairness. And in decrying the rise of megacorporations that dominate vast ranges of services in some economic sectors, he cited pharmacy middlemen as exhibit A. Alvaro Bedoya in May was […]