Buntin testifies at Senate HELP Committee hearing about health care costs in America
Health care cost surges might be shrunk by curbing out-of-network charges and consolidation in hospitals, experts suggested to Congress last week.
“Research has consistently shown provider consolidation in the health care industry raises prices,” Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Health Policy Department Chair Melinda Buntin told the Senate Health Committee.
Health care cost growth has slowed in recent years in part because the rate Americans are developing chronic diseases has declined.Other contributors have been the slow increase in physician payments and the temporary freezing of physician payment rates under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), she said.
Buntin added Medicare’s cost surges dropped from 2010 to 2016 because of an influx of younger Baby Boomers who have lower health care needs.
Estimates are the average family’s out-of-pocket spending for health care annually is close to $2,750.