Consumer Driven Health Care

Hospitals are increasingly offering patient-financing strategies, cooperating with financial institutions to offer on-the-spot loans to make sure patients pay their bills.

When employees consider their out-of-pocket costs for medical tests, procedures and prescription drugs, terms like "free" and "copay" obscure reality and result in bad choices.

While the prescription drug businesses at pharmacies has been relatively stable, front-of-the-store sales have been in decline. Giant retailers like Walmart Inc. are also looking to play a bigger role.

The approach: Let the state contract with wholesalers in Canada, importing cheaper prescriptions from up north and distributing them to the states health care system.

Sally-Ann Polson, President of MedWatch, discusses her view of what the future looks like.

Across the country, there are stark differences in the well-being of Americans, according to Gallup and Sharecares 2017 State Well-Being Rankings.

The effort to make patients better health care shoppers by increasing their out-of-pocket costs seems to be working, according to actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Employers can empower themselves to save dollars on health care, rather than shift costs to their employees.