Anti-inflation Program White House Statement on a Meeting With Government officials To Discuss Competition Policy.

President Carter, his chief inflation fighter, Alfred Kahn, and Consumer Adviser Esther Peterson met today with Michael Pertschuk, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, and John Shenefield, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, to discuss the role of competition policy in fighting inflation.

Pertschuk and Shenefield reported on actions by the FTC and the Justice Department to keep prices down by challenging private and public restraints on competition. These restraints include collusion, price fixing, and excessive regulation.

Pertschuk indicated that the Commission had established health care, food, housing, transportation, energy, and clothing as priority sectors in which inflation has taken a heavy toll on consumers. In health care delivery, for example, the Commission has barred publication of medical society fee schedules, "ethical" bans against salaried practices by specialists, and Blue Shield discrimination against health maintenance organizations.

Antitrust Division cases and investigations cover a broad range of industries and commodities affecting the daily lives of consumers, including the construction, energy, mining, paper products, metals, and food industries. Shenefield noted that the civil and criminal cases filed by the Antitrust Division in the last year involved over $9 billion in commerce.

Professional self-regulation and profession-inspired regulation are also undergoing Antitrust Division and Commission scrutiny. Restraints by doctors, lawyers, accountants, and realtors are currently under investigation. Some professional groups, such as veterinarians and psychologists, have recently responded by undertaking voluntary reforms to free up competition.

Additionally, the agencies have been working in close cooperation with concerned State legislators and regulators to enhance procompetitive actions at the State level. The FTC's model State generic drug substitution law (sent last week by President Carter to each State Governor) would allow pharmacists to fill prescriptions with lower cost equivalent drugs unless otherwise specified by the physician.

The President, in his inflation message, noted his support for those regulations "which fight inflation." The Commission's recent eyeglass rule will enable consumers to benefit from price advertising and comparative shopping for eyeglasses. Rules being considered this year would also provide information on insulation and on energy costs of major appliances.

The Justice Department and the FTC are leading advocates for competition in numerous proceedings before Federal regulatory agencies and throughout the Government. The Antitrust Division has participated in regulatory hearings on energy, transportation, banking, securities, international trade and communications matters. The Antitrust Division also participated in several important administrative legislative initiatives concerning competition. The Commission has undertaken a program of competitive advocacy within policymaking councils of the administration, before Congress, and before other agencies, notably the CAB and ICC.

Chairman Pertschuk also told the President that several FTC initiatives illustrate the benefits flowing from a vigorous competition policy. Following the issuance of a complaint alleging that Levi Strauss had fixed retail prices, jeans prices dropped by $4. The FTC eyeglass rule could save consumers $500 million a year.

Without necessarily endorsing each FTC or Antitrust Division initiative, the President and Chairman Kahn expressed broad support for a vigorous national competition policy to be spearheaded by the two agencies.

"Both the FTC and the Antitrust Division," the President said, "are responding vigorously to the call I sounded in the inflation message—to redouble our effort to put competition back into the American free enterprise system."