In the latest video in a series on health care affordability, Arnold Ventures explores what the excessive provider prices that have plagued America’s health care system for decades mean for patients and consumers. These higher prices have resulted in higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs, and lower wages for privately insured Americans — without corresponding improvements in health care quality.
In 2021, the average family premium was $22,221, while deductibles averaged $5,969. High and rising prices are a major financial burden on Americans – reducing their ability to access the medical care they need and sending them into medical debt or even bankruptcy.
This new video — the third in a series on high health care prices — looks at what these prices mean for consumers and patients.
Our first video explores the price problem more broadly and its impact on health care affordability.
The second video in the series delves into a major driver of exorbitant health care prices: provider consolidation, which has been on the rise for decades.
Policymakers at both the state and federal levels are increasingly considering and adopting solutions to lower prices in the commercial market, including making prices transparent, limiting further consolidation and improving market competition, and directly limiting excessive prices.
