Congressman Onder Examines Healthcare Regulations at Judiciary Field Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 16, 2026 Contact: Brooke Morgan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, Congressman Bob Onder (R-MO) attended a House Judiciary Committee field hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he questioned witnesses Katherine Restrepo Martin of the UNC System; Brian Miller, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., of Johns Hopkins; and Brian Blase, Ph.D., of the Paragon Health Institute, about fraud and competition in the healthcare market and ways in which Congress can make healthcare more affordable for Americans.
As a physician for 30 years, Congressman Onder has seen firsthand how burdensome federal regulations like Obamacare have driven up healthcare costs, contributed to the consolidation of healthcare systems, limited competition, and left patients with fewer choices.
Read his full remarks from the hearing below:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I’m happy to be here to talk about such an important aspect of the healthcare industry. Unfortunately, the United States healthcare sector has been overrun with debilitating government regulations that have fostered an anticompetitive market that limits options for patients and inflates the cost for quality healthcare.
Over the past 25 years, the healthcare market has witnessed an increasing consolidation through multiple hospital mergers that have resulted in less options for patients. Many states have laws and regulations that have actively encouraged this consolidation though Certificates of Need, requiring government approval for any entry or expansion of the healthcare market.
This is the landscape many medical residents are entering. They may have acquired certain specialties in medical school but are thrown into a medical residency system that discourages competition and caps the number of doctors allowed to proceed to residency every year, exacerbating the healthcare workforce shortage even more.
As hospitals and medical providers struggle to fill residencies, the marketplace as a whole has had to adjust to the rampant fraud committed through the Affordable Care Act. The Government Accountability Office found evidence that both individuals and insurance companies fraudulently enrolled the same social security numbers for various different healthcare plans. The Trump Administration has tackled this head on – the DOJ has effectively prosecuted individuals who engaged in this shameless Obamacare subsidy fraud. And their work is just beginning.
Congress is striving to make healthcare more affordable to Americans, and that must start by addressing the anticompetitive practices that pervade the healthcare market and rooting out the fraud that has cost the government and taxpayers millions. Thank you.”
To watch a clip from the hearing, click HERE .
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