CMS Innovation Center official outlines affordability strategy, cites $5.3 trillion 2024 spending

A CMS Innovation Center official said the agency is focused on making health care more affordable and outlined three organizing pillars to guide that work.

"Affordability is 1 of the core challenges we face as a country today," the agency official said, adding that "In 2024, our country spent $5,300,000,000,000 on health care, and we're not even getting optimal results." The official also said that 26 percent of Americans reported delaying or foregoing necessary care over the past four years.

The official described three pillars that structure the Innovation Center’s approach. The first is evidence-based prevention, which the official defined as engaging earlier in a disease journey to prevent or delay progression. "The first is evidence based prevention, and evidence based prevention is all about engaging earlier in a disease journey," the official said.

The second pillar, the official said, is empowering people by providing information and access so they can make informed decisions and reach their health goals. The third pillar is choice and competition: increasing options so patients can drive down the prices they face.

The speaker framed the issue in everyday terms, noting that affordability forces people to choose between necessities and care, from filling prescriptions to attending appointments. "Let's make those choices easier by making care more affordable in our country," the official said.

The short presentation closed with a direction to view more CMS Innovation Center materials at the web shortcut provided in the segment.