Private health care costs more

Devereaux and colleagues present their systematic review and meta-analysis of 8 studies comparing payments for care at private for-profit and private not-for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals in the United States. The pooled estimate of the 8 studies demonstrates conclusively that private for-profit hospitals are associated with higher payments of care.

The authors state this finding, combined with research they conducted previously that found private for-profit hospitals had higher risk-adjusted mortality rates, "strongly supports a policy of not-for-profit health care delivery at the hospital level."

In a separate commentary, Woolhandler and Himmelstein discuss the dangers of handing over health care services to private enterprise.

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p. 1817 Payments for care at private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals: a systematic
review and meta-analysis
– P.J. Devereaux et al

p. 1814 The high costs of for-profit care
– S. Woolhandler, D.U. Himmelstein

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