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We are directing our anger at the part of the system that is most visible and frustrating (insurers’ restrictions on care) while ignoring the part of the health system that is most responsible for high costs and economic pain: hospital prices.

Our Austin sister station takes a look at lawmakers tackling the issue of healthcare affordability

Health care costs are increasing faster than the rate of inflation. A Texas House committee is holding a two-day hearing this week to learn more about what drives lack of affordable healthcare before working on policy recommendations later this year.

An average family of four in Texas is spending enough money on insurance premiums to buy a brand new car every year. Healthcare policy experts said the average cost for employer-sponsored insurance premiums for a family averaged nearly $27,000 in 2025.

This week, Professor Zack Cooper, director of the Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale, joined the committee in Austin to deliver testimony on his research and what we know about the drivers of rising health care spending.

On April 20, Dr. Zack Cooper, Director of the Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale, presented on the Evolution of Hospital Markets in the United States to state policymakers who are part of the Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs.

A big reason is the high prices Americans pay for surgeries and drugs.

An analysis of hospital pricing found that facilities on average charge the uninsured almost five times what Medicare pays for the same procedure.

Every year, American families sit down to review their health insurance and brace for the same gut punch: premiums rising, deductibles higher, out-of-pocket maximums climbing. Most accept it as an unavoidable fact of life. It doesn’t have to be this way.