Rising health care costs concern many Americans, from patients and consumers to doctors and hospital executives, elected leaders, and other policymakers. Several factors can worsen medical inflation in unseen and surprising ways. Among them: drug marketing practices, inadequate food safety protections, overuse of antibiotics in livestock feed, where people live, and even how homes and apartments are built.
Pew conducts original research and works with experts in the field to help policymakers understand how much they spend on health care; how that amount has changed over time; what is driving it higher; and which policy approaches will contain costs while improving health outcomes.
