Statement by Lora Pellegrini, President and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, Regarding RAND Corporation&apos;s Study on Prices Paid to Hospitals by Private Health Plans

BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 21 (TNSres) -- Massachusetts Association of Health Plans issued the following statement on May 20, 2024, by President and CEO Lora Pellegrini regarding the RAND study on prices paid to hospitals by private health plans:

* * *

Today's Monday Report from the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association cited a recent RAND Report on commercial health insurance spending that is misleading and does not tell the full story.

The report fails to acknowledge that Massachusetts has the highest Medicare prices in the United States - close to 50% higher than the national average - and simplistically divides state commercial prices by our state's Medicare prices, resulting in commercial prices that look relatively low in comparison to other states. If the report were adjusted to account for Massachusetts' unusually high Medicare reimbursement rates, our state's commercial reimbursement rates would be among the highest in the nation.

It is important that this report be put into the appropriate context. In addition to the above, the report also uses a limited commercial claims dataset comprised only of voluntarily reported self-insured data, rather than using our state's All Payer Claims Database. Any effort to use this data in an attempt to secure increased commercial payment rates would be misleading, particularly at a time when health care affordability is one of the primary challenges facing employers and consumers.

* * *