Prices
-
Effects of COVID-19 on Health Care Spending Were Concentrated in April-May 2020
Read more: Effects of COVID-19 on Health Care Spending Were Concentrated in April-May 2020The COVID-19 pandemic shaped health care spending and use over the past two years in numerous ways. We recently released our Health Care Cost and Utilization Report which provides data from the first year of the pandemic on health care use, spending, and prices across different types of services for approximately 55 million individuals enrolled…
-
The Price of Childbirth in the U.S. Tops $13,000 in 2020
Read more: The Price of Childbirth in the U.S. Tops $13,000 in 2020As HCCI has previously documented, the price of childbirth in the U.S. is higher than in many other countries. When prices are high, patients with health insurance pay directly through coinsurance (i.e., cost-sharing calculated as a percent of what their insurer pays for the service) and over time, as higher prices charged to insurers are…
-
Birthing People in the U.S. Pay Nearly $2,000 Out-of-Pocket to Have a Baby
Read more: Birthing People in the U.S. Pay Nearly $2,000 Out-of-Pocket to Have a BabyThe birth of a child is momentous for any person and family. New parents may face a range of challenges, including a lack of paid family leave, the rising costs of childcare, and potential health-related complications for the birthing person and new baby. In the midst of this major life transition, parents also face new…
-
JAMA: Variability in Prices Paid for Hemodialysis by Employer-Sponsored Insurance in the US From 2012 to 2019
Read more: JAMA: Variability in Prices Paid for Hemodialysis by Employer-Sponsored Insurance in the US From 2012 to 2019Abstract: Recent proposals have sought to limit the amount dialysis clinics charge private payers, but little is known about the prices that private insurers actually pay for dialysis. In this study, we provide novel evidence on dialysis prices based on claims data for a large national sample of private employer-sponsored insurance carriers.
-
CBO: The Prices That Commercial Health Insurers and Medicare Pay for Hospitals’ and Physicians’ Services
Read more: CBO: The Prices That Commercial Health Insurers and Medicare Pay for Hospitals’ and Physicians’ ServicesAbstract: CBO examined potential reasons that the prices paid by commercial health insurers for hospitals’ and physicians’ services are higher, rise more quickly, and vary more by area than the prices paid by the Medicare fee-for-service program.
-
NPR: The Bill For His COVID Test In Texas Was A Whopping $54,000
Read more: NPR: The Bill For His COVID Test In Texas Was A Whopping $54,000HCCI’s President and CEO Niall Brennan was quoted in an NPR report on a shockingly high bill for a COVID-19 test. From the article: ‘ “People are going to charge what they think they can get away with,” says Niall Brennan, president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit that studies health care prices….
-
2019 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report
Read more: 2019 Health Care Cost and Utilization ReportThe 2019 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report presents data on health care spending, utilization, and average prices from 2015 through 2019 for individuals under the age of 65 who receive health insurance coverage through an employer. This report examines trends within four categories of service: inpatient admissions, outpatient visits and procedures, professional services, and prescription drugs. All data…
-
Reader’s Digest: A Blood Test in This State Will Run You 25 Times More Than in Other States
Tags: PricesRead more: Reader’s Digest: A Blood Test in This State Will Run You 25 Times More Than in Other StatesHCCI’s 2019 Past the Price Index report was featured in Reader’s Digest. From the article: “‘Generally, Texas had some of the highest blood test median prices in the country, with 5 of the 12 highest prices studied,’ the HCCI authors wrote. For instance, a blood test in Beaumont costs 25 times more than a blood test in…
-
Kaiser Health News: Surprise Federal Drug Rule Directs Insurers to Reveal What They Pay for Prescription Drugs
Read more: Kaiser Health News: Surprise Federal Drug Rule Directs Insurers to Reveal What They Pay for Prescription DrugsHCCI’s President and CEO Niall Brennan was quoted in a Kaiser Health News article on the CMS Transparency in Coverage Final Rule. From the article: ” ‘If the information is presented to consumers so they realize they are paying a higher price without the benefit of the rebates, you’ll get a lot of angry consumers,’ said Niall Brennan, CEO…
-
Past the Healthy Marketplace Index, Volume II: Exploring Changes in Actual Prices Paid for Specific Services by Metro Area from 2013 to 2017
Read more: Past the Healthy Marketplace Index, Volume II: Exploring Changes in Actual Prices Paid for Specific Services by Metro Area from 2013 to 2017In the first brief of the Past the Healthy Marketplace Index series, we explored how prices compared across the country and found that, in 2017, health care prices for specific services varied by as much as 22-fold across metro areas and even up 40-fold within them. In this next brief, we looked at variation in…