Where High U.S. Health Care Prices Are Going

This project aims to identify the major recipients of the dollars associated with higher U.S. prices, any potential value being created and to whom, and the implications for strategies to constrain health care price growth. The project will perform a literature review of international spending and prices and compare it with spending in the U.S. health care system to develop a list of potential components receiving a portion of higher U.S. health care prices. These could include higher wages for providers, more administrative staff, greater investments in facilities, greater profits, or different standards of treatment. Countries of focus will include (but not be limited to) the Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. For each component identified, the project will estimate differences in spending based on existing literature, financial data, industry reports, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Statistics. For each of the components that are deemed impactful, they will assess direct and indirect benefits of the increased spending and to whom they accrue and potential implications for addressing high health care prices.