Dauner: Calif. Hospital Prices Reflect Low Reimbursements

In a Sacramento Bee opinion piece, C. Duane Dauner -- president and CEO of the California Hospital Association -- writes that an earlier Bee opinion piece by Micah Weinberg of the New America Foundation is "misguided in its assertion that hospital prices will drop if provider payments are regulated." Dauner argues that some of the biggest drivers of hospital prices are "the chronic underfunding of the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs," as well as state seismic safety mandates and the rising costs of caring for seniors and people with chronic conditions. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program. Dauner concludes, "The belief that the health care cost curve can be bent by regulating payments to hospitals and other providers without addressing governmental payment shortfalls is unrealistic."

• "Another View: Hospitals Not Properly Reimbursed" (Dauner, Sacramento Bee, 6/18).