Health Care Costs

Affordability pressures increasingly shape health risk in the United States, influencing both the upstream conditions that sustain health and the downstream ability to access health promoting resources. Financial stability is a key driver of health, affecting patterns of health, health care use, and the tradeoffs people must make among competing needs. The economic policy landscape aimed at improving financial security for Americans is expansive, complex, and often difficult to organize, making it challenging to discuss how different policies influence financial resilience and population health. We propose the Earn–Keep–Grow framework as a practical way to organize and guide discussion of these policies in population health research and policy decision-making. More

Despite all the criticism, the ACA has had notable success in achieving its objectives.  More

The American Hospital Association determined that in 2022 nonprofit hospitals spent $129 billion on community benefits. This is more than the entire budget for the US public health service. Different organizations estimate different amounts of community benefit spending depending on their definition of community benefit. More

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

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

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

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

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

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

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