Study explores what factors drive health care spending

A report out today from the Health Care Cost Institute analyzed what insurers and households paid for medical care from 2007 to 2010.  

The Washington Post: Data Trove May Shed Light On Health-Care Uncertainties
How much do hospitals and doctors actually charge insurers for their services? How much and which of those services are privately-insured patients using? And, most significantly, what drives changes in health-care use, costs, and total spending? (Aizenman, 5/21).

Politico: Study: Higher Prices For Care May Be Driving Health-Care Costs
A new study could pose a challenge to the basic premise of President Barack Obama's approach to controlling health costs -; that spending will come down if doctors don't give patients as much unnecessary medical care (Feder, 5/21).

Kaiser Health News: Higher Prices Charged By Hospitals, Other Providers, Drove Health Spending During Downturn
Higher prices charged by hospitals, outpatient centers and other providers drove up health care spending at double the rate of inflation during the economic downturn– even as patients consumed less medical care overall, according to a new study (Appleby, 5/21). 

Bloomberg: Health-Care Costs Rise Faster Than U.S. Inflation Rate
Doctors, hospitals and drugmakers raised prices faster than inflation in 2010, driving U.S. health costs higher as fewer Americans sought care after the recession. Spending on workers covered on the job grew 3.3 percent per person in 2010, twice the general inflation rate, according to a report today from the Health Care Cost Institute, a Washington group that examined data from insurers including UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) and Aetna Inc. (AET) While costs increased, enrollment in employer-sponsored plans declined, the researchers said (Nussbaum, 5/21).

Modern Healthcare: Rising Prices Drove Higher Spending Among Commercially Insured: Study
Rising prices meant higher health spending for patients with insurance through a job in 2010 even as demand for medical care stagnated, according to the first report generated from a trove of claims data from private insurers. The report, which analyzed what insurers and households paid for medical care from 2007 to 2010, was released by the Health Care Cost Institute, a not-for-profit with access to insurance claims from Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare. The project was launched last year (Evans, 5/21).