COVID-19 and its impact on states’ economies and budgets has refocused attention on high health care costs. To help state policymakers engage in the difficult discussions around how best to lower the health care cost trajectory, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) created the slide deck Understanding the Health Care Cost Conundrum in 2020 to help policymakers understand what is leading to rising health care costs and make the case for action.

Building on a range of recent research, NASHP’s slide deck is a toolbox for state officials – it is made up of multiple sections that focus on different parts of the cost challenge and can be presented together or by section depending on a state’s goals.

It provides a helpful overview to break down rising health care costs, including information about total US health care spending, the expected costs of COVID-19, and a primer about what’s driving spending.

View or download NASHP’s Understanding the Health Care Cost Conundrum in 2020.

Addressing health care costs can be a monumental task for state policymakers and is complicated by the complex and biased information provided by different actors across the health care industry. This new resource is designed to provide a straightforward, easy-to-understand overview that will resonate with policymakers and the public.

The slide deck is designed to prompt discussion about important questions, such as:

• What if states could dedicate some of the resources now going towards direct health care costs to other priorities, such as investing in social determinants of health or working to achieve health equity?
• How will COVID-19 contribute to additional health care consolidation, a key driver of high costs?
• How do high costs impact consumers, employers, and the overall economy?

The slide deck also includes an infographic showing hospitals’ many funding sources and highlights how the burden of high costs falls on individuals in multiple ways – in their roles as taxpayers, employees, employers, and consumers.

View more state tools to address health care costs at NASHP’s Center for Health System Costs’ model legislation and resources.