RAND essentially dismissed the claim by providers that Medicare reimbursement rates are too low and must be offset by charging more to those with deeper pockets—i.e., employers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Hospitals charge employers and private health insurers, on average, two-and-a-half times the Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rate. And that multiplier has been increasing steadily since 2016.

Thus reports RAND in an exhaustive study based upon mountains of hospital payment data from 2018. Its goal for the research: to bring a greater measure of cost transparency to the discussion about whether or not employer plans (and their members) are being gouged by hospitals.