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(St. Paul) ... The Minnesota Council of Health Plans and the state's employers have teamed up to help find these answers so that Minnesotans can better understand health care costs.
"It's clear that people want and are receiving more and better health care," said Kirby Erickson, interim executive director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans. "We're trying to help them understand the connection between these services and rising health care costs."
The collaboration with the Minnesota Business Partnership (MBP), which is composed of CEOs leading 100 of Minnesota's largest businesses, has two parts:
1) The Cost of Better Medicine shows the trends in both the price and volume of medical services related to Parkinson's Disease, infertility treatment, arthroscopic knee surgeries and births. It also includes a "retail price list" for various types of clinic visits, procedures, tests and popular prescription drugs.
2) The Employee Communications Kit for Health Care Cost Issues is designed to help employers talk with their employees about these issues in a simple, straightforward manner.
The report and toolkit will be distributed to MBP members and also will be available over the Internet at www.mnhealthplans.org.
"People pay for things. Whether directly or indirectly, the cost of health care comes out of your pocket and mine," said MBP Executive Director Duane Benson. "The trouble is, we usually don't know the price of things. This is one way to help bridge that gap."
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