Employers paid 3.5 times what Medicare would have paid for the same hospital outpatient services in Indiana — and 2.1 times the Medicare rate for inpatient care. Price transparency nationwide could help employers become better-informed purchasers of health care and stronger advocates for their employees.
Christine Eibner, a RAND senior economist, is available to address possible changes to the Affordable Care Act including the bipartisan momentum to stabilize the health insurance exchanges, cost sharing subsidies, potential funding cuts for Medicaid, and the challenges facing enrollees in 2018.
Despite their differences, the Affordable Care Act and the current proposals to replace it take a similar approach to providing health insurance. What might some alternatives look like? And how could they provide coverage to more Americans?