Open Markets staff Philip Longman and Audrey Stienon published three new articles this week in The Washington Monthly that examine three industries with an outsized influence on the cost and fairness of American life – and how to make them better.

In “ Medicare Prices for All [[link removed]],” Open Markets policy director Phillip Longman builds on over two decades of study of America’s healthcare system to present a simple yet effective plan to address the tremendous healthcare costs passed on to workers: tie employer health care plans to Medicare reimbursement rates. This would remove monopoly rents from greedy healthcare giants and return them to the American people.

In “ Corporate-Proof the Care Economy [[link removed]],” Audrey Stienon, Open Markets industrial policy program manager, warns that America’s care economy is at risk of being entirely captured by big corporations and private equity, turning services into nightmares for working class families. Government investments in care, whether from states or the federal government, must address corporate control before our markets for providing child, disability, and elder care become as exploited and broken as our healthcare system.

In “ Make Transportation Fair Again [[link removed]],” Phillip Longman shows how deregulation of airlines, freight rail, and trucking has created harms ranging from ever worse service levels and price discrimination to a hollowing out of industrial America and dramatic increases in carbon emissions. By restoring basic principles of fairness that, until the 1980s governed transportation markets throughout our history, Americans have the opportunity to build a cleaner, more efficient, more balanced, and equitable economy. Additionally, Open Markets has submitted a comprehensive comment letter to the Justice Department (DOJ) and Department of Transportation (DOT), outlining actionable steps to address the ongoing decline in the airline industry and air travel experience. You can read that comment letter here [[link removed]].

PLUS: Our Latest on Artificial Intelligence & Market Power

In 2025, our teams at Open Markets and the Center for Journalism and Liberty continue to study closely the development of artificial intelligence and have just released a pivotal new expert brief, AI and Market Concentration [[link removed]], outlining how artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly monopolized and proposing actionable policy solutions to ensure AI serves the public interest. We hope you’ll give it a read and continue to follow us for more on AI and market power.

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