'It's the Prices, Stupid': How Sky-high Prices Are Crippling Our Health Care System

The numbers are eye-popping: $25,000 MRIs, the $1,000-a-day hepatitis B drug, $629 for an ER visit that only delivered a Band-Aid. As the late Uwe Reinhardt often said, “It’s the prices, stupid.” Experts increasingly point to the high cost of care in America as the chronic illness of the U.S. system. Health systems in other developed countries pay nowhere near these prices for the same services. This webinar offered an overview of our health system’s price problem and provided journalists with one ace health reporter’s toolkit for covering the issue in their communities — including strategies, data sources and crowdsourcing tips.

The webinar is a project of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and NIHCM Foundation.