. . .
Researchers at Harvard conducted an exhaustive study last year of things that make health systems in developed countries different from one another. They determined that the United States is distinct in a few ways. But the clear finding of those researchers was that it’s this huge gap in prices, more than any other single factor — not the number of doctors’ visits or hospitalizations, not the quality of medical services, not differences in social service spending — that helps explain why the United States is such an expensive place to be sick. (I wrote an article about that study, if you’re interested in the details.)
Over the last decade, most of the political health policy debate has been about how to ensure broader insurance coverage for the public. (Another way the United States is unusual is in having so many residents without any form of health insurance.) But the debate among candidates for the 2020 presidential race has begun to tack slightly toward policies that will address price as well.
