Doctor holding up package of pills and caculator Researchers describe the wide variation in prices paid for medical services as "a defining characteristic of the U.S. health care system."

Employer-sponsored health plans paid on average 224% of what Medicare paid to hospitals for the same services at the same facilities, according to a new study from RAND Corporation. The report covers billing for hospital inpatient and outpatient services in 2020.

The study said that there were significant variances in prices across states or geographic areas and added that the difference in cost seemed to be linked to hospital market share rather than hospitals' share of Medicare and Medicaid patients.

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