A path to affordability, access and value in the healthcare system

An Expert View from Rob Abbott, chief executive and executive director of ISPOR — The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR), a nonprofit advancing HEOR excellence to improve decision-making for health globally.

While many see the intersection between healthcare and the US government, the level of dependency is less recognized. In the USA, healthcare accounts for more than 29% of the federal budget and healthcare expenditures represent more than 17% of GDP. Yet, life expectancy is falling across the country as costs rise, while more people in need of healthcare are forced to make difficult, and often life-changing, affordability choices like paying for their medication or paying for their family’s groceries.

As the new Administration seeks to identify greater efficiencies within government, healthcare has become a target for “evaluation” as expenditures continue to increase, and at faster rates. For example, prescription drug expenditures – whether out-of-pocket, through health insurance or other payers/programs – increased 11.4% to $449.7 billion in 2023, faster than the 7.8% growth in 2022. Yet cost-cutting alone will not create an ecosystem that’s accessible, efficient and as effective as possible. Until our healthcare system can provide all of these–along with affordability–it cannot provide the best value possible to each healthcare recipient.