As a consumer, I'm coming to dislike it. In theory, that consolidation of redundant efforts should improve my care and reduce my costs. In practice, I've seen

As a consumer, I'm coming to dislike it. In theory, that consolidation of redundant efforts should improve my care and reduce my costs. In practice, I've seen the opposite happen. My local health care market has consolidated down into a single large corporate entity that, like any good monopoly, has every reason to reduce quality of service while increasing prices. I guess I fill out less paperwork, but that isn't saving me enough time to justify all the little routine visits that used to cost me $50 out of pocket suddenly costing $300 out of pocket.