It Costs What?! The Role of Media in Exposing Crazy Healthcare Prices

According to poll after poll, consumers’ top concern is healthcare–specifically, consumers want policymakers to address the affordability of healthcare.  A particular patient grievance is the bizarre range of prices – all of them unaffordable.  

This webinar featured two investigative journalists–a regional reporter and a podcaster–who have reported on the murky healthcare prices that befuddle patients and policymakers alike. Our panelists described their stories that exposed and explained how healthcare prices are set. The panel then discussed the role of media coverage in addressing our dysfunctional healthcare system. 

Date and Time

Aug. 29, 2019
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET

Speakers

• Jenny Deam, Houston Chronicle 
• Dan Weissmann, An Arm and a Leg Podcast
• Lynn Quincy, Healthcare Value Hub (moderator)

Resources

• Deam, Jenny, “It Cost What? Medical Pricing Shrouded in Secrecy, Leaving Patients in the Dark,” The Houston Chronicle (April 19, 2019).
• Weissmann, Dan, “How much for an MRI? Well, that depends…” An Arm and a Leg Podcast (June 19, 2019).
• Kennedy, Kevin, et al. “Past the Price Index; Exploring Actual Prices Paid for Specific Service by Metro Area,” Health Care Cost Institute (April 30, 2019).
• Cooper, Jack, et al., “The Price Ain’t Right? Hospital Prices and Health Spending n the Privately Insured” (December 2015).