Health Care: Why does it cost so much?

The facts about health care in the United States are eye opening. How can a nation that spends nearly twice as much as our economic peers still have so many problems? As the former ranking member of the state Senate Health Care Committee and current assistant ranking member, I spent some considerable time trying to unpack our rising health care cost challenge. Like other complex, human problems, this one won’t be solved with a silver bullet either.

Let’s start with the biggest problem in our state – Medicaid reimbursement. This is the largest driver of cost on consumers. That is because Washin...