Prices
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Past the Healthy Marketplace Index, Volume I: Exploring Actual Prices Paid for Specific Services by Metro Area
Read more: Past the Healthy Marketplace Index, Volume I: Exploring Actual Prices Paid for Specific Services by Metro AreaHow much people spend on health care from place to place reflects multiple, interwoven, and dynamic factors, such as the cost and use of services. Health care spending and its driving factors change over time, differ across geographies, and vary by type of service. The Health Care Cost Institute’s (HCCI) Healthy Marketplace Index (HMI) provides…
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The New York Times: These Towns Trusted a Doctor to Set Up Covid Testing. Sample Patient Fee: $1,944.
Read more: The New York Times: These Towns Trusted a Doctor to Set Up Covid Testing. Sample Patient Fee: $1,944.HCCI’s research on prices for COVID tests and other panel testing was featured in The New York Times. From the article: “Insurers typically reimburse the panel test at a higher rate, often paying six times what they would for a regular coronavirus test, according to data provided by the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute.” These Towns Trusted a Doctor to…
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GAO: Anesthesia Services: Differences between Private and Medicare Payments Likely Due to Providers’ Strong Negotiating Position
Read more: GAO: Anesthesia Services: Differences between Private and Medicare Payments Likely Due to Providers’ Strong Negotiating PositionHCCI’s 2018 HCCUR report was cited in a GAO study on Medicare payments for anesthesia services. From the report: “The Health Care Cost Institute calculated that in 2017 private insurance payments ranged from 2 to 7 times Medicare payments, on average, across six common services provided by anesthesiologists in 33 states. Wide state-to-state variation within…
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STAT: Seeing the ‘Deep Pocket’ Effect When Insurers Pay for Health Care
Tags: PricesRead more: STAT: Seeing the ‘Deep Pocket’ Effect When Insurers Pay for Health CareHCCI’s Guroo tool was cited in a STAT article on direct versus insurance-covered health care service prices. From the article: “I compared prices from this health system’s booklet to the average allowed amounts for the same services reported by the Health Care Cost Institute’s Guroo tool for hospitals in the state of Pennsylvania. For all services…
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AHCJ: Report Shows Wide Variation in What Insurers Pay Providers Versus What Medicare Would Have Paid
Read more: AHCJ: Report Shows Wide Variation in What Insurers Pay Providers Versus What Medicare Would Have PaidHCCI’s research on comparing commercial and Medicare professional service prices was featured in the newsletter of the Association of Health Care Journalists. From the article: “In Comparing Commercial and Medicare Professional Service Prices, HCCI researchers compared what health insurers paid to physicians and other providers with what Medicare pays for those services. This report should not be…
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Comparing Commercial and Medicare Professional Service Prices
Read more: Comparing Commercial and Medicare Professional Service PricesPeople in the United States routinely cite health care and health care costs as top concerns.1,2,3,4 For the more than 160 million people who get insurance from their employer, the cost of health care is high, growing, and outpacing growth in wages.5,6,7 Across the country, health care costs show up in the form of higher premiums and…
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Commercial Prices Relative to Medicare Vary Within Metro Areas Across Specialties and by Type of Service
Read more: Commercial Prices Relative to Medicare Vary Within Metro Areas Across Specialties and by Type of ServiceEarlier HCCI research found that at the national level, commercial payers paid prices that were, on average, 122% of Medicare. However, we found that commercial professional service prices varied dramatically across states from 98% of Medicare in Alabama to 188% of Medicare in Wisconsin. There was similar variation within states, such as California, and also…
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ProPublica: How a $175 COVID-19 Test Led to $2,479 in Charges
Read more: ProPublica: How a $175 COVID-19 Test Led to $2,479 in ChargesHCCI’s President and CEO Niall Brennan was recently quoted in a ProPublica article on extremely high coronavirus test billing rates by out-of-network providers. From the article: “The SignatureCare charges shocked experts who study health care costs. Charging $2,479 for a drive-thru COVID-19 test is a ‘nauseating’ example of profiteering during a pandemic, said Niall Brennan, president and CEO of…
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The New York Times: Most Coronavirus Tests Cost About $100. Why Did One Cost $2,315?
Tags: Administered Drugs, Commercially Insured, Drug Spending, Inpatient Spending, Outpatient Spending, Prices, The New York TimesRead more: The New York Times: Most Coronavirus Tests Cost About $100. Why Did One Cost $2,315?HCCI’s research with iFHP on international comparisons of health care prices was cited in an article in The New York Times on COVID-19 test prices. From the article: “How can a simple coronavirus test cost $100 in one lab and 2,200 percent more in another? It comes back to a fundamental fact about the American…
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Understanding Variation in Spending on Childbirth Among the Commercially Insured
Read more: Understanding Variation in Spending on Childbirth Among the Commercially InsuredChildbirth is the most frequent reason for an inpatient admission in the United States, and Cesarean-section (C-section) is the most common operating room procedure in an inpatient hospital stay. Among people who get insurance through an employer, the combination of labor, delivery, and newborn care makes up nearly one in six dollars spent on inpatient…