The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) recently proposed fiscal year 2025 budget makes clear that enforcement is still a high priority.

On July 9, the FTC Commissioners provided statements before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce, each supporting the proposed budget. In that budget, the FTC is requesting an increase of $105 million, including hiring 55 additional full-time equivalent employees, 20 of whom would be slated to join the Bureau of Competition and three to join the Bureau of Economics.

This increase, if approved, would undoubtedly impact health care and perhaps anticipate activity that may result from initiatives recently rolled out by the FTC, including the FTC and Department of Justice’s joint portal for the public to report anticompetitive practices in health care, the recently released interim report on pharmacy benefit managers (discussed at an Open Commission Meeting on August 1), and the multiagency request for information related to consolidation in health care markets.

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