In a true free market, most consumers will naturally seek out lower cost, higher quality products and services. There are numerous reasons why that has not been the case in healthcare. They include the lack of price and quality transparency, complexity of navigating care, consolidation of provider markets and regulations that prevent the alignment of the incentives to drive free-market decisions.
Thankfully, there is a growing group of employers trying to improve access to affordable healthcare for employees and their families. Instead of working within the status quo, which has resulted in lower wages and higher healthcare costs, these employers have taken steps to innovate their benefit plan designs, identify or create high-value care solutions and reward high-value healthcare providers.
