How to curb health care costs
Hospitals charge commercial payers far more than is needed to cover their expenses, with people who pay insurance premiums ultimately paying the price.
Health care
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Did You Know?
The U.S. spends twice as much per person for health care as other wealthy countries.
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Transparency in Health Care Pricing
Do you want to know how much an MRI will cost you or your insurance company? How about a mammogram or dental care? Trying to compare costs of care from different medical providers can be a frustrating exercise. Despite accounting for more than 17 percent of the nation’s economy, costs in the health care sector are remarkably opaque. However, there are a few efforts underway to gather more information about the true costs of care.
More Evidence of Health Care Price Variation in California
A new study published in BMJ Open by researchers at the University of California San Francisco finds huge variation in the cost of having a baby in California, findings similar to those of our July 2012 report on health care charge variation.
Why Young Invincibles Should Sign up for Health Insurance
As health insurance enrollment required by the Affordable Care Act begins in earnest, I’ve seen plenty of press coverage questioning if young people will buy insurance as the Obama administration hopes, or if “young invincibles” will take their chances and go without. Most of the media coverage centers on how the participation of young people is essential for the financial longevity of our health care system. I think there’s another, stronger reason why young invincibles should get health insurance: their own financial well-being.
The High Cost of Emergency Room Care
With the re-launch of the federal healthcare.gov website, millions of Americans are now able to sign up for health insurance required under the Affordable Care Act. The federal website and its state-run counterparts are making it easier for people to search for health insurance and subsidies are making insurance premiums more affordable. However, increasing access to health insurance—and therefore health care—addresses only part of the problem with our health care system. A huge challenge still to be tackled is the high and rising cost of care, most recently documented by the New York Times.
New Data on Variation in Hospital Charges
New data released by Medicare reveal immense variation in the amount charged by hospitals for treatment of the 100 most common inpatient stays. Information from more than 3,000 hospitals around the country shows that, for the same procedure, charges vary as much as 42-fold—from $5,300 to $223,000 for joint replacement. The variation in charges is greater than the variation we observed in our recent analysis of charges by California hospitals for the 12 most common surgeries.
Issue specialist
Ridlington
Elizabeth
Ridlington
Associate Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Frontier Group