Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Tampa Bay news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Charlotte news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
The health care services that rack up the highest out-of-pocket costs for patients aren't the same ones that cost the most to the health care system overall.
Why it matters: Americans likely have a distorted view of what is costing them the most, which affects where consumers direct their ire after receiving expensive medical bills.
What they're saying: "What you pay for health care is often more influenced by your health insurance than the actual cost of the service," Avalere's Chris Sloan said.
- "It's hard to have consumer-driven market forces that impact costs if the consumer doesn’t understand how much any service costs and subsequently can’t 'shop around' or negotiate it down," Sloan added.
- It also means that certain issues, like prescription drug spending, become politically elevated over other areas with lower cost-sharing.
Yes, but: Insurance was designed in part to shield patients from high health care bills, which typically are largest when a patient goes to the hospital. But most people don't go to the hospital in any given year.
- And cost-sharing was designed to encourage enrollees from inappropriately using health care, even though it's become a way of off-loading costs onto patients.
- "Most people are not itching to get admitted to the hospital, so it doesn’t make sense for insurance plans to discourage it through cost-sharing," said the Kaiser Family Foundation's Larry Levitt.
The bottom line: The health care costs that are hitting patients' pocketbooks hardest aren't the same ones that are driving health care spending through the roof, meaning that political action to address costs may be somewhat divorced from our long-term problems.