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How soaring hospital and drug prices drive up insurance costs
STAT • • business
Key Points:
- Workers and employers face soaring health insurance premiums largely due to the high and opaque prices within the health care industry.
- Health insurers base premiums primarily on the cost of care received, with the main driver being the excessive prices charged by hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers.
- Despite frequent visits not being the main issue, the inflated prices set by various parts of the health care system leave consumers and businesses with little control over costs.
- Gerard Anderson, a health care policy expert, emphasizes that the core problem behind America’s unusually high health spending is the inflated prices, a conclusion he has consistently highlighted over decades.
- Anderson’s research and policy work, including contributions to Medicare’s hospital payment system, reinforce that tackling high prices is crucial to addressing the nation’s health care cost crisis.
