@HealthEconTX
Joined September 2009
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Today, along with 31 fellow economists from across the political spectrum, I sent a letter to the US Senate urging action on the Braun-Sanders bill to codify in law a requirement for hospitals to post actual prices. static1.squarespace.com/stat…
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If true transparency were unleashed, the savings that could be achieved by open competition in the healthcare market would be astronomical-- as much as $1 trillion. See the full letter here: static1.squarespace.com/stat…
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Unfortunately, hospitals are gaming the current system outlined in executive orders and department regulations. As a result, "A large portion of middle-class wealth in America is just locked up in hospital cash reserves." usatoday.com/story/news/heal…

Hospitals must be candid about cost of medical care, economists say

A group of 32 economists said a health price transparency would save up to $1 trillion in wasted medical spending each year.

usatoday.com
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Full article⬇️ Read, & retweet widely! 10/10 end🧵academic.oup.com/healthaffai…

Why does the cost of employer-sponsored coverage keep rising?

Abstract. Over the past 25 years, the gap between the increase in health insurance costs and workers’ wages has significantly expanded. This trend has led

academic.oup.com
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💼 Profit margins tell a revealing story. Hospitals (both for-profit and nonprofit) consistently have higher profit margins than insurance companies. This suggests that hospital pricing plays a big role in driving up insurance premiums. 6/10
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🏥Hospital prices are rising faster than insurance premiums and professional services. From 2006 to 2023, the hospital price index shot up significantly, leading the charge in overall healthcare cost increases. 4/10
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💵 First things first: Let’s get the numbers! Since 1999, family premiums have increased by 314%, while workers' contributions have soared by 326%! Meanwhile, wages? Only a 111% rise. 2/10
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🚨📈 Over the past 25 years, the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance has skyrocketed! But why is this happening? In a recent #HAScholar @Health_Affairs piece, Vivian Ho (@HealthEconTX) & I do some investigation. 1/10 🧵
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Here are some of the #'s for 2019 (the last year of our study sample) : Cash Reserves/Charity Care/Operating Profit NYU Langone $3.0b/15.7m/579m NY Presbyterian $8.3b/43.2m/1.1b Stanford Health Care $4.0b/33.8b/1.5b Houston Methodist $5.8b/45.8b/590m
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Click on the “Download the hospital-level dataset” link. Then go to the “HCT Data” worksheet. Following are the columns we used from the Excel spreadsheet: W: Fund balance, which we refer to as cash reserves in the paper AB: Net charity care cost BP: Operating profit (loss)
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If you’re interested in looking at the data source for particular hospitals, the latest version of the dataset is here: tool.nashp.org/
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We analyzed data from the @NASHPhealth Hospital Cost Tool and found that nonprofit hospitals use their proceeds to boost cash reserves rather than provide more charity care. healthaffairs.org/doi/full/1…

Nonprofit Hospitals: Profits And Cash Reserves Grow, Charity Care Does Not | Health Affairs Journal

Using the National Academy of State Health Policy Hospital Cost Tool, we compared changes in hospital profits with changes in hospitals’ charity care and cash reserves between 2012 and 2019. We...

healthaffairs.org
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JUST OUT: Two new bills introduced in the Texas Legislature could jeopardize the care received by Medicaid patients, writes @BakerCHB's @HealthEconTX. She explains why the legislation would weaken county-owned insurance plans and raise Texans’ tax bills: bit.ly/3V0akcy

Public Medicaid Managed Care Organizations are Under Attack in Texas | Baker Institute

Two new bills introduced in the Texas Legislature could jeopardize the care received by Medicaid patients, writes Vivian Ho, the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics. She explains...

bakerinstitute.org
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An article by @CNBCMakeIt's @tjhuddle cites a 2008 study by @BakerCHB's @HealthEconTX & @stpolicy's @kirstinmatthews that found that the @gatesfoundation helped spur greater financial support at the National Institutes of Health for research into vaccines: cnb.cx/3uWsyjr

Bill Gates plans to give away 'virtually all' his $113 billion—here's the impact that could...

Bill Gates announced a $20 billion donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – and reiterated a pledge to give away "virtually all of my wealth."

cnbc.com
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WHO REFEREED THIS ARTICLE?? healthaffairs.org/doi/full/1… #HealthAffairs

Health Care Spending Effectiveness: Estimates Suggest That Spending Improved US Health From 1996 To...

Health care spending effectiveness is the ratio of an increase in spending per case of illness or injury to an increase in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted per case. We report US...

healthaffairs.org
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Suppose several states raised cigarette taxes, lowering smoking rates. DALYs would rise without an increase in spending, and this study would attribute that gain as improvement in spending effectiveness
Thanks @maggieshi311 and Sam Stripling, and the other #ASHEcon2022 attendees for many helpful comments!
Baker Institute Domestic Health Policy Program@BIDomesticHlth28 Jun 2022
CHB researchers attend the annual ASHEcon meeting in Austin, TX to present early research on trauma center costs @BakerInstitute @HealthEconTX @BakerCHB @mnshort1
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I provided a bit of guidance, but @anaeze_offodile and @MarceloCerullo did the heavy lifting and taught me a lot about private equity in the process. I'm so glad I met you two! Keep up your pursuit of research topics aimed at improving our healthcare system.
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There's all sorts of stuff you can do with this data. For starters, "Download the hospital-level dataset" Then sort by Fund Balance (cash reserves), highest to lowest. Many well-known hospitals have BILLIONS in cash reserves and double-digit profit margins.
NASHP
@NASHPhealth5 Apr 2022
New interactive tool: @NASHPhealth’s Hospital Cost Tool—developed in collaboration with @BakerInstitute and @MathematicaNow with support from @Arnold_Ventures—makes hospital costs more accessible and transparent than ever before: bit.ly/3tZqkzy

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Registration is open for the April 20 event "Addressing Financial Toxicity in U.S. Healthcare: The Physician Perspective," featuring @anaeze_offodile, @khurramn1 and @HealthEconTX bakerinstitute.org/events/22…
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