Will Physicians Lead on Controlling Health Care Costs?

Controlling health care costs is the fundamental domestic policy challenge facing the United States. Increasing health care costs reduce state funding for education, especially public colleges and universities, raising tuition costs and student indebtedness.¹ Increasing health care costs constrain middle-class wages as increases in productivity are siphoned off to fund health insurance rather than take-home pay.² Increasing health care costs account for a large part of the federal budget deficit and are the fundamental driver of the United States’ long-term debt.