Terre Haute, In. – Zack Cooper is an associate professor of Public Health and an Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University who has been studying hospital competition and hospital mergers for nearly twenty years. Cooper says the merger of Union Health and Terre Haute Regional Hospital would raise commercial health care prices between 10% and 30%, raise local insurance premiums by 3% to 10%, lower nurses’ wages by approximately 5%, and cause approximately 500 job losses outside the health sector, according to his analysis. Cooper shared these numbers with the Indiana Department of Health in a March 21 public comment that responds to the Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) application filed by the two hospitals on February 5th. He says, “What’s happening in Vigo County, right now is unfortunately happening around the country,” he went on to say “Health care prices keep going up, and local hospital mergers are a big reason why.” Indiana state officials must decide by August 13, whether to approve the COPA certificate. You can view Zack Coopers Public Comment to the Indiana Department of Health with this story on our webpage or Facebook page.
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