Spending is Substantially Lower Under Private Insurance

by Chris Fleming

Whether Medicare or private insurance pays for health care appears to make a significant difference in health spending variation, according to a study by Luisa Franzini of the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) and coauthors, published today in the December issue of Health Affairs. The study, a follow-up to a highly publicized 2009 New Yorker article by Atul Gawande, shows that in two Texas cities, sharp differences in Medicare’s per-capita health care spending were significantly diminished when private insurance paid the bill.

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