Contrary to common belief, Americans don’t actually use more healthcare than other countries, according to Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and senior associate dean at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Speaking to the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee during a June 27 hearing on healthcare costs, he put the blame on administrative costs and the less-competitive markets created by hospital mergers.
“Every single thing that happens in healthcare in America, we pay twice [or] three times more than what other countries are paying,” he said, according to coverage by the blog FierceHealthcare. Greater price transparency could help reduce healthcare spending, he said, but only if patients are provided with better information about what they are paying for.
Read FierceHealthcare article: Policy experts blame provider consolidation, lack of price transparency for skyrocketing medical costs
Read Forbes coverage: Health care costs could be shrunk by curbing hospital consolidation/out-of-network fees, Senate told