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The costs of the 340B program exist of course.  They are initially imposed on insurance companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers.  But, the costs are not confined to just these industries.  The costs created by the 340B program are ultimately integrated into the overall health care system and are manifested through rising insurance premiums, declining insurance coverage, declining innovation and productivity (especially for pharmaceutical drugs), and higher medical costs in unrelated segments of the health care system.  Perhaps more troubling, the added noise created by the 340B cost shifting worsens the overall functionality of the U.S. health care system

he actions of these other employers don’t detract from the unique nature of Walgreens’ decision. Two months earlier, the retailer announced its partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services to extol the benefits of Obamacare to its employees and its customers. Their website still features the effort, and brochures continue to be distributed even while the corporation itself realizes that compliance must force it to abandon employer-provided health insurance for the people in the stores distributing the brochures to customers.

With the CBO predicting that rising health-care costs would increase at twice the rate of other federal spending, the same increase in costs will now be borne almost entirely by employees.  Finally, it appears that the private-exchange option will satisfy the employer mandate, which means that the employees cannot bail out of these private exchanges in order to qualify for federal subsidies, which prevents the employers from having to pay increasing fines for non-compliance.

limit the liability of the third-party payer.

Premium prices are influenced by many factors, including what insurers guess their costs will be, a region’s labor costs and how much hospitals and other facilities charge. Competition between insurers is also a significant factor.

While some of the lowest cost plans are in the “bronze” tier of coverage, such plans generally have higher annual deductibles and co-payments than a silver plan.  Also, the silver plans reduce some costs for subsidy-eligible consumers, which could reduce their exposure to big bills if they fell seriously ill.

“Although premiums are generally the first and last thing discussed when comparing plans, out-of-pocket costs may be an equally or even more important consideration, particularly for those with significant health care needs.”

Doctors complain, though, that the savings comes from cutting reimbursement rates, which discourages health care providers from accepting Medicaid patients. The Texas Medical Association also expressed disappointment that Gov. Rick Perry rejected proposals to expand the number of people on Medicaid to include the working poor.

But since the poor and uninsured often rely on expensive emergency room care, Lunsford said hospitals will continue to pass on those costs to the public when those patients don’t pay their bills.

Health insurance costs ate 7.7 percent of total payroll expenses for private-sector employers in 2012, according to the NIHM study.

n 2013, individuals paid, on average, $5,900 in total annual premiums for employer-sponsored coverage. On average, family plans cost more than $16,300. “With employees’ costs for medical coverage growing much more quickly than general inflation, hourly earnings and family income, some workers are inevitably (being) priced out of coverage,” the study said.

2018, 40 million American employees will be enrolled in private exchanges

The best way to reduce health-care and insurance costs is if the price of treatment declines.

Several hospital chains are driving the boom – including HCA Inc., which will open its seventh ER later this year in Florida, and Wake Med Health and Hospitals, which will add its fourth next month in the Raleigh, N.C., metro area. They regard the facilities as a way to expand into new markets, generate admissions to their hospital and reduce crowding at their hospital-based ERs.

reater Houston has 150 emergency rooms — twice the number as greater Miami -- even though its population is only slightly bigger, according to a KHN analysis.

While the ERs charge insurers double or triple the amount per patient as an urgent care center or doctor's office, patients use them for routine care that could be provided in less costly settings, Ho says. That is the case with standard ERs as well. Yet, insured patients have little incentive to drive past the more expensive, freestanding ERs because their co-payment is only $50 or $100, just modestly more than what it might cost for a visit to an urgent care center or doctor’s office. Their insurers pay the balance generally.

A study by Avalere Health found that up to 90 percent of ObamaCare plans will force cancer patients to cover half the cost of new drugs until they hit the out-of-pocket maximum. By comparison, only 29 percent of non-ObamaCare employer-based plans do so.

On average, ObamaCare plans cover only 10 targeted therapies, and insurers don’t have to add new breakthroughs until 2016.

The low profit margins have forced insurers to downsize the number of doctors and hospitals in their networks — and to slash what they cover for out-of-network treatment.

s the movement towards health reform is putting pressure on hospitals, physicians and insurers to keep a lid on rising costs.

Starting in October, consumers shopping on the new exchange will be able to choose from bronze, silver, gold, platinum and catastrophic plans that offer a range of premiums, deductibles and co-pays depending on variables such as how many doctors you want included in your network.That's why Smithberger says it's important that consumers look at more than the bottom line when choosing plans. It may be the lowest priced plan, but it may have a very high deductible or only offer a limited number of doctors.

The federal government doesn’t have a deficit problem. Its fiscal issues are entirely related to the bloated cost of American health care. If we paid the same amount for health care per person as people do in other wealthy countries with longer average life expectancies, we’d have a balanced budget now and surpluses projected f