|
ARLINGTON VA, USA -- HEALTHCARE UPDATE NEWS SERVICE™ -- MAY 12, 2026: Join Paragon Health Institute for a virtual discussion on the growing unaffordability of hospital services in America. Our panelists will examine why hospital prices have soared far above inflation, how government policies have fueled consolidation and weakened competition, lessons from taking on high hospital prices, and reforms that can restore accountability and lower costs for patients, employers, and taxpayers.
The event is based on a new Paragon research paper, The Hospital Cost Crisis: How Government Policies Drive Consolidation, Undermine Competition, and Fuel Soaring Prices, by John R. Graham. Paragon's President Brian Blase, PhD, will moderate the discussion with Paragon Visiting Fellow John R. Graham, 4sight Health CEO David W. Johnson, and Former Assistant to President George W. Bush Al Hubbard.
The paper shows that U.S. hospitals—which account for roughly one-third of all health spending—operate in a government-shaped system that rewards consolidation, opacity, and inefficiency rather than competition, value, and accountability. The paper shows that policies such as certificate-of-need laws, payment differentials between care settings, restrictions on physician-owned hospitals, and broad subsidies have driven hospital prices far above inflation and make health care increasingly unaffordable for patients, employers, and taxpayers. To restore competition and improve efficiency, the study recommends reforms such as site-neutral payment, stronger price transparency, and restructuring hospital support programs to reward quality, efficiency, and genuine need.
|
PANELISTS
|
|
Brian Blase, PhD—President, Paragon Health Institute
Brian Blase, PhD, is the President of Paragon Health Institute. Brian was Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House's National Economic Council (NEC) from 2017-2019, where he coordinated the development and execution of numerous health policies and advised the President, NEC director, and senior officials. After leaving the White House, Brian founded Blase Policy Strategies and served as its CEO.
|
|
John R. Graham—Visiting Fellow, Paragon Health Institute
John R. Graham is a Visiting Fellow at Paragon Health Institute who brings nearly 30 years of health policy expertise to research across all of Paragon's initiatives. He is the author of this event's featured paper on the hospital cost crisis and will present its key findings and policy recommendations.
|
|
David W. Johnson—CEO, 4sight Health
David W. Johnson is the CEO of 4sight Health, an advisory firm working at the intersection of health care strategy, economics, and innovation. A nationally recognized health care thought leader, keynote speaker, and strategic advisor, Johnson is the author of Market vs. Medicine: America's Epic Fight for Better, Affordable Healthcare and The Customer Revolution in Healthcare. Drawing on more than 25 years of investment banking in health care, he will bring his expertise as a health care analyst to examine the market forces—and market failures—driving the hospital cost crisis.
|
|
Al Hubbard—Co-Founder, E&A Companies; Former Director, White House National Economic Council
Al Hubbard is co-founder and chairman of E&A Companies and served as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council under President George W. Bush. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. As chair of Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare, Hubbard has been a leading and remarkably effective advocate for lower hospital prices in Indiana—a state where nonprofit hospital prices rank among the highest in the nation—and will share lessons from that effort.
|
|
