Controlling Health Care Costs - California Health Care Foundation

Controlling Health Care Costs
Health care is too expensive for many Californians. CHCF offers these resources that detail where health spending happens, why health care costs are increasing so rapidly, and what policymakers could consider to improve value in the system.

Health Care Cost Commissions: How Eight States Address Cost Growth

Health Care Costs

This issue brief documents efforts in eight states that have established new independent commissions or increased the authority of an existing regulatory body to monitor and limit unnecessary growth in health spending.

Markets or Monopolies? Considerations for Addressing Health Care Consolidation in California

Katherine L. Gudiksen, Amy Y. Gu, Jaime S. King

Health Care Costs

Most California health care markets are highly concentrated, with hospital markets in particular approaching monopoly levels in many counties. Studies show that mergers of health care companies result in increased prices for services. This report compiles evidence about consolidation and provides potential considerations for policymakers.

2022 Edition — Health Care Costs 101

Katherine Wilson

Health Care Costs

Health Care Costs 101: Federal Spending on COVID-19 Drives Growth provides a detailed look at national health care spending in 2020.

Aligning Health Cost Growth with Economic Growth Would Save Californians Billions

Kristof Stremikis

Health Care Costs

California policymakers are turning their attention to a public health crisis that has bedeviled the state for decades: unjustifiably high and rising health care costs.

Ever-Rising Health Costs Worsen California’s Coronavirus Threat

Kristof Stremikis

Health Care Costs

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread, it is important to remember another significant threat to the health of our people — soaring health costs.

Commissioning Change: How Four States Use Advisory Boards to Contain Health Spending

Glenn Melnick, Susan Maerki

Health Care Costs

Controlling the growth of health spending is central to any state effort to achieve universal coverage and to relieve consumers struggling with out-of-pocket costs. California can learn from four states that have established state commissions to measure, monitor, and set targets to control health care cost increases.

Getting to Affordability: Spending Trends and Waste in California’s Health Care System

RAND Corporation

Health Care Costs

Health care is still far too expensive for many Californians. Crucial to any cost containment effort is a detailed understanding of what costs are being reduced, where they are coming from, and who has the potential to capture the savings. This report focuses on the landscape of health care spending and a framework for understanding cost containment approaches in California.

2021 Edition — Health Care Costs 101

Katherine Wilson

Health Care Costs, Payment & Financing

Health Care Costs 101: US Spending Growth Outpaces Economy provides a detailed look at national health care spending in 2019, just prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sky’s the Limit

Richard M. Scheffler, Daniel R. Arnold, Brent D. Fulton

Health Care Costs

California pays significantly more for common health care services than the rest of the country, and the gap has been widening. A critical factor in the fast growth of prices is market concentration — including hospital consolidation and physician integration — which has been proliferating in the state. The Sky’s the Limit: Health Care Prices and Market Consolidation in California looks at the data and the policies that can be considered to address this serious concern.