Quarterly Topic

Health care costs

Content Type:

  • Quarterly Article

    National Analysis of the Requirements and Implementation of State Prescription Drug Price Transparency Laws

    June 2025 Hannah Rahim Aaron S. Kesselheim

    Prescription drug prices in the United States are substantially higher than in other high-income countries, with US prices reported to be an average of 2.78 times those of other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.1 In response to these high prices, along with an opaque supply chain that can lead to substantial discrepancies in prices across different payors, states have passed drug price transparency laws that require manufacturers to disclose information on drug prices. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Rethinking Affordability: When Insurance Fails the Affordability Test

    June 2025 Thom Walsh

    Millions of Americans possess insurance cards yet hesitate to use them. Escalating premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses now impact not only low-income families but nearly everyone except the wealthiest. Annual out-of-pocket costs for a family of four now exceed $20,000—enough to buy a new car each year. These substantial expenses compel families to skip preventive services and essential medical care. The notion that “some coverage is better than none” falters when cost-sharing deters care and heightens financial risk. More

  • Quarterly Article

    State Health Care Cost Commissions: Their Priorities and How States’ Political Leanings, Commercial Hospital Prices, and Medicaid Spending Predict Their Establishment

    June 2025 Brent D. Fulton Daniel R. Arnold Jordan M. Wolf Richard M. Scheffler

    This study identifies states that have established health care cost commissions (HCCCs), examines state-level political and economic factors associated with their establishment, and reports which of these states have also enacted health care competition-related laws that further equip these commissions. More

  • Quarterly Article

    When the Bough Breaks: The Financial Burden of Childbirth and Postpartum Care by Insurance Type

    November 2024 Heidi L. Allen Mandi Spishak-Thomas Kristen Underhill Chen Liu Jamie R. Daw

    The cost of childbirth and postpartum health care results in significant and persistent financial hardship, particularly for families with lower income with commercial insurance. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Private Equity Impacts On Health Care: Federal and State Legislative and Regulatory Actions, Will It Matter?

    April 2024 Richard M. Scheffler David Blumenthal

    A look at recent policy developments that bear on private equity in health care, and their potential impacts on this growing form of commercial activity in health care markets. More

  • Quarterly Article

    Century-Long Trends in the Financing and Ownership of American Health Care

    April 2023 Adam Gaffney Steffie Woolhandler David U. Himmelstein

    Context: Who pays for health care—and who owns it—determine what care is delivered, who receives it, and who profits from it. We examined trends… More

  • Quarterly Article

    Big Med’s Spread

    March 2023 Lawton Robert Burns Mark V. Pauly

    Context: There is a growing trend of combinations among hospital systems that operate in different geographic markets known as cross-market mergers.… More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Termites in the House of Health Care

    November 2022 John E. McDonough

    As private equity firms have bought up billions of dollars in medical practices, home care agencies, and more over the last two decades, they have become a force in US health care. In a new Opinion, John E. McDonough of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health chronicles the increasing role of private equity firms in the health care economy and its negative impact on patient mortality, patient costs, jobs, quality of care, and facilities closure. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Antitrust Enforcement in Health Care Is No Longer a Pipe Dream

    June 2022 John E. McDonough

    For decades, corporate mergers and consolidations in the US health care system were like the weather—complain all you want because you can’t do anything about them.  More

  • Quarterly Article

    Do State Bans of Most-Favored-Nation Contract Clauses Restrain Price Growth? Evidence From Hospital Prices

    May 2022 Daniel R. Arnold Katherine L. Gudiksen Jaime S. King Brent D. Fulton Richard M. Scheffler

    Context: Most-favored-nation (MFN) contract clauses have recently garnered attention from both Congress and state legislatures looking for ways to… More