HHS' new plans to boost health care competition

It calls for:

• Repealing state laws that require providers to ask for permission to build new facilities.
• Allowing physician assistants and dental hygienists to do more without supervision by a doctor or dentist.
• More site-neutral payments.

There’s no mention of unscrambling hospital mergers or regulating prices. But the administration could win legislative and public support for some of these policies.

Yes, but: This document also serves as a political vehicle to stump for conservative hobbyhorses — like short-term plans, health savings accounts, lifting the repeal on physician-owned hospitals, and potshots at the Affordable Care Act.

• HHS also said the government should pursue “programs that encourage value … such as Medicare Advantage” — another indirect attempt to steer Medicare enrollees into private plans.

Go deeper: More ACA competition comes with a catch for consumers