back December 1, 2005   Ryan: Hearing Offers Chance to Examine GAO’s Findings, Explore Why Wisconsin Ranked Among Areas With Higher Health Care Prices First District Congressman Paul Ryan said he is looking forward to the opportunity to participate in the hearing that the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health will be holding tomorrow in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The hearing follows the release of an August 2005 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) regarding health care price variation within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. It provides an opportunity to examine issues raised in that report regarding geographic differences in health care prices and how the level of competition among health care providers impacts prices.  “We need to get to the bottom of why we pay so much for our health care in Wisconsin. The GAO report and this hearing give us a chance to get to the root cause of what drives our high health care prices,” Ryan said. “The GAO report illustrates how less competition tends to mean higher prices for patients. We need to examine this link and take steps to boost consumers’ bargaining power and give them the information and resources they need to get quality health care while lowering their costs at the same time.” On Friday, December 2, the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health will travel to Oak Creek, WI to hold a field hearing on competition in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). What: Hearing of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health When: Friday, December 2, 2005 at 11:30 a.m. Central Standard Time Where: Oak Creek Law Enforcement Center, 301 W. Ryan Road, Oak Creek, WI 53154  The hearing will be held in the Courtroom. Witnesses: Tom Barrett, Mayor, City of Milwaukee, WI A. Bruce Steinwald, Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office George Quinn, Senior Vice President, Wisconsin Hospital Association, Madison, WI Jack Meler, President and Chief Executive Officer, HealthCare Direct, LLC, Oconomowoc, WI Susan L. Turney, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Wisconsin Medical Society, Madison, WI Richard L. Blomquist, President, Blomquist Benefits Consulting, Milwaukee, WI  Media availability: For members of the media, there will be a pre-hearing media availability with Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Nancy Johnson and Congressman Paul Ryan on December 2, from 11:00 – 11:20 a.m. in Room 130 of the Oak Creek Law Enforcement Center, 301 W. Ryan Road, Oak Creek, WI. Media should sign in at the main entry into the police department (inside the lobby.) For further details on this congressional hearing, please visit the Ways and Means Committee web site at: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=454. The GAO’s report, which was requested by Congressman Paul Ryan and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (at the time when he was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives), looks at the variation in hospital and physician prices and spending in metropolitan areas throughout the United States. As part of its analysis, GAO ranks 232 areas around the nation by hospital prices and 319 areas by physician prices. This report confirms that health care prices in the Milwaukee area and other Wisconsin communities are high relative to the other metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the study. Specifically, GAO found that: Hospital prices varied more than physician prices nationwide. The Milwaukee-Waukesha area ranked fifth highest by adjusted hospital prices, with hospital prices about 57% above the national average. The La Crosse, Wisconsin-Minnesota area ranked tenth highest by hospital price, with prices nearly 39% above the national average. Metropolitan areas in Wisconsin had physician prices ranked among the highest in the study: of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest physician prices, eight were located in Wisconsin.  On average, PPOs paid higher hospital and physician prices in metropolitan areas in the Midwest and lower prices in the Northeast.  The GAO assessed factors that could contribute to the geographic differences in hospital and physician prices, concluding that areas where there was less competition among hospitals and less HMO capitation (indicative of less price-bargaining leverage) had higher prices, on average. Overall, the GAO found that many metropolitan areas in its study had low levels of competition, and the least competitive areas also tended to have smaller populations.  The GAO found no evidence of cost shifting. In other words, PPOs did not pay higher prices in areas with a higher percentage of Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries, a larger uninsured population, or lower Medicaid payments. In fact, physician prices were lower, on average, in metropolitan areas with lower adjusted Medicaid payment rates and proportionately larger uninsured populations. Please click here to view the GAO Report: Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, Competition and Other Factors Linked to Wide Variation in Health Care Prices  Print Contact: Kate Matus (202) 226-7326