Hearing Mulls Effect of ACA, Health Care Transparency on Costs
During a Senate Committee on Finance hearing Tuesday, health experts urged lawmakers to look beyond health care transparency and the Affordable Care Act to control the increasing cost of health care, Kaiser Health News' "Capsules" reports (Tran, "Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 6/18).
The committee hearing was held partly in response to an article published in Time in March by journalist Steven Brill, which highlighted dramatic differences in health care prices across the U.S. (Bell, LifeHealthPro, 6/18).
Effect of Transparency Debated
During the hearing, Brill said although he supports efforts to make health care price information publicly available, he believes increasing transparency has its limits ("Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 6/18). Brill said, "Transparency can only go so far" in addressing the real cost problems, noting that even when provided with pricing data, most patients are unable to do anything to avoid the high costs. Brill added, "While transparency starts the conversation about prices ... it's only a start."
Other experts agreed with Brill. Castlight Health CEO Giovanni Colella said, "Making [CMS] data accessible will help everyone better understand quality of care and cost of care," but it would do little to solve the problem (Pogorelc, MedCity News, 6/18).
Center for Studying Health System Change President Paul Ginsburg said, "The key to price transparency leading to lower prices for consumers is benefit designs that offer rewards to them" ("Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 6/18). He suggested having purchasers and health plans analyze the complex cost data, along with benefit quality and design data, that provide consumers with an incentive to choose higher-quality, lower-cost providers (MedCity News, 6/18).
Lawmakers, Experts Discuss ACA's Role
During the hearing, committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) suggested that provisions in the ACA aimed at taxing "Cadillac" insurance plans that are generous would help to control health care costs.
Brill dismissed that claim, saying that the ACA never addressed issues with the internal systems providers use to determine their charges, which can lead to inflated prices. He said the ACA "does nothing about these prices. Nothing to solve this problem. Zero" (Boak, Fiscal Times, 6/18).
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that he believes that the ACA "missed a real opportunity" to address the high costs of health care. For instance, he said that physicians' fear of litigation can cause them to order more tests and conduct more procedures ("Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 6/18).
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