Culture of Health Blog

When Mercer Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey, planned to close its doors more than 10 years ago, many in the community were alarmed by the likely impact on health services available to the city’s large, low-income population. Encouraged by Mayor Douglas Palmer and the State Department of Health, two hospitals, a federally-qualified health center, and the city health department came together to consider how best to meet the needs of Trenton residents.

At the time, many of these providers knew one another more as competitors than as collaborators. But they recognized a shared commitment to Trenton’s most vulnerable residents and set aside potential rivalries to form the Trenton Health Team. Today, that team links more than 60 behavioral, social service, educational, and faith-based organizations to pursue better community health outcomes.

Health care is too often the most stressful part of the American family's budget. In a 2015 survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 42 percent of respondents reported that it is somewhat or very difficult to afford health services. This difficulty ranked higher than monthly utilities, housing, food expenses and transportation costs. In the same survey, more than half of respondents said that making information about the price of medical appointments, procedures and tests more available to patients should be a “top health care priority” for the President and Congress.

Rising out-of-pocket costs helped shape these attitudes, and they are hitting patients in the U.S. at all levels. For people with job-based insurance, the number of individuals with plan deductibles—and the size of those deductibles—has grown rapidly in recent years. In 2015, the rate of covered workers enrolled in a plan with an annual deductible of $1,000 or more for single coverage was 63 percent, a significant jump from 10 percent in 2006. This year, deductibles in marketplace plans are even higher than employer insurance, averaging $3,064 for coverage in the popular "silver" tier. For low-income marketplace enrollees, they might qualify for cost-sharing reductions, but they aren’t completely shielded from out-of-pocket expenses.

How can we lower the burden of health care costs in the U.S.?

A new survey aims to reveal how communities across the nation are using collaboration to safeguard health.

Sometimes, more is definitely better. Getting that extra hour of sleep can greatly benefit your mind, body and day. Cars that get more miles per gallon are cheaper and cleaner to run. And who would argue against more vacation time?

But when it comes to health care, more is not always better. Unnecessary diagnostic tests, treatments or hospitalizations can drive up health care costs, and in some cases, actually harm patients. For example, excess imaging increases exposure to radiation. Overuse of screening and diagnostic tests can lead to stressful false positives. And unnecessary treatments, drugs or procedures increase the risk of serious complications. In the larger picture, the estimated $200 billion spent on inappropriate care each year diverts resources away from services that are actually needed both within and outside of the health system—in mental health, housing, and infrastructure, for example—that can help all Americans lead healthier lives.