How Do We Lower The Cost Of Health Care?

PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER) -- Health care and insurance providers met in Portland Wednesday to try to figure out ways to reduce our ever-escalating health care costs.

One way the speakers talked about is to make sure doctors don't order unnecessary tests, which can be very expensive and don't always lead to better treatment. Doctors often order those tests because they fear getting sued if they don't catch a rare but potentially serious issue, and patients want the tests to put their minds at ease.

Michael Chernew, a professor at Harvard Medical School who spoke at the conference, said insurers can help by doing more to cover services that work, regardless of cost, and require consumers to pay more for services that are considered unnecessary.

Chernew said, "It is important for people to understand, we can't live in a health care system where everybody gets access to every test all the time, in the extraordinary case that we might find something. Not because it costs money, although it does cost a lot of money and that is a motivation, but also it tends to be bad care."

Patients can also help keep costs down by not demanding those expensive tests and by asking their doctor if there's a less expensive way to treat their problem.