peterson milbank

Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs

The Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs supports state-led efforts to make health care more affordable for everyone. Starting with setting a target for reasonable cost increases, states across the country are collecting data on their annual health care spending and analyzing it to find the cost growth drivers. With this information, everyone in the state who has a stake in health care can work together to identify community-wide solutions to improve affordability.

This program is a partnership between the Milbank Memorial Fund and the Peterson Center on Healthcare.

  • "To even begin looking at what's happening in health care spending on a state level rather than national is an enormous accomplishment. Washington has different trends, different players, and a different landscape than other states. A state-specific look at the data is critical. "

    Emily Brice, JD

    Deputy Director, Northwest Health Law Advocates, Washington

  • "The health care cost growth benchmark is an important initiative. We have to be concerned with cost growth in health care because we need health care to be sustainable, affordable, and accessible without impacting quality. I believe that everyone feels they have a stake in that outcome, and that they can contribute to the goals of the initiative."

    Joanne Borduas, MSN, MBA

    Chief Executive Officer, Community Health and Wellness Center, Connecticut

  • "The cost growth benchmarking initiative has been thoughtful. I think they’ve tried to be very considered in their approach. They've gotten buy-in from both providers and payers and made it a collaborative effort. It is a step in the right direction."

    Al Charbonneau

    Executive Director, Rhode Island Business Group on Health

Highlights

  • Video: A State-Led Approach to Improving the Affordability of Health Care

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  • Leveraging Health Care Cost and Affordability Data: A Suite of Analytic Resources 

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  • Prescription Drug Spending Rising at an Unaffordable Rate Despite Drug Rebates

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  • Resource Library

    Resource Types

    Current Topics

    Locations

    News Article

    Video: A State-Led Approach to Improving the Affordability of Health Care

    February 2024
    Christine Haran
    This short video explains health care cost growth targets, which set a spending goal that health industry stakeholders commit to in order to identify policies that will make health care more affordable. More

    News Article

    Prescription Drug Spending Rising at an Unaffordable Rate Despite Drug Rebates

    December 2023
    Christine Haran
    Even after accounting for rebates, prescription drug spending has continued to grow at an unaffordable rate, according to a new analysis of three states with health care cost growth targets, More

    Blog Post

    The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Care Spending in Three States: A Health Care Cost Driver Analysis

    December 2023
    Christopher Romero-Gutierrez and Michael H. Bailit
    nalysis of commercial insurer date in all-payer claims databases finds that increases in use of medical services and drug price increases in 2021 drove higher spending. More

    News Article

    Integrating Health Equity into Health Cost Containment Efforts

    November 2023
    Mary Louise Gilburg
    Large shares of people with health insurance say that they cannot afford needed health care, according to a new affordability report from the Commonwealth Fund that offers policy recommendations for each insurer type. Delays in receiving care or missed care due to costs is making them sicker, the survey finds. Other research finds ongoing disparities […] More

    Publication

    Leveraging Health Care Cost and Affordability Data: A Suite of Analytic Resources

    November 2023
    Nathan Pauly, Lauren Sears, Amy Zhan and Kevin McAvey
    The Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs had developed a suite of analytic resources on health care cost and affordability data to provide states with direction on how to access, integrate, and analyze health care data resources. More

    Blog Post

    Engaging Employers and Consumers in State-Led Health Care Affordability Efforts

    October 2023
    Mary Louise Gilburg and Christine Haran
    3 Takeaways:   For years, health care costs have been rising much faster than overall inflation and wages. This unsustainable trajectory has led to cost burdens for employers and workers, including ballooning insurance premiums, with employer-sponsored family premiums jumping 20% in the last five years and 43% in the past decade.   In response, several states are […] More

    News Article

    Considering the AHEAD Model: Lessons from States with Health Care Cost Growth and Primary Care Investment Targets

    October 2023
    Christine Haran
    Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a new state total cost of care model called the States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development (AHEAD) Model. On October 17, the Peterson-Milbank Program on Sustainable Health Care Costs hosted a one-hour webinar for interested states and health care stakeholders. Participants learned about […] More

    Blog Post

    Costenheimer

    August 2023
    Christopher F. Koller
    This summer could well be remembered for two things — record heat and “Barbenheimer.” The first phenomenon may be a harbinger of what’s to come while the latter is a mash-up of two contemporaneous but seemingly unrelated stories.    “Barbenheimer” refers to the simultaneous release of two blockbuster movies: “Oppenheimer,” the biopic of atomic bomb researcher […] More

    News Article

    Health Affairs Article Covers 2021 Health Care Spending Growth in Five States with Cost Growth Targets

    July 2023
    Mary Louise Gilburg
    In early 2023, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Rhode Island publicly reported on commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare state-level health spending growth in 2021 compared with their state growth targets. In a new Health Affairs Forefront article, January Angeles of Bailit Health examines these trends and discusses how market trends will likely affect spending growth in […] More

    News Article

    Connecticut’s First Cost Growth Benchmark Public Hearing

    July 2023
    Christine Haran
    Last month, the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy (OHS) held its first Cost Growth Benchmark Hearing to discuss health care affordability challenges in the state with consumers, employer purchasers, and representatives of the health care industry More