State Efforts to Control Healthcare Costs: Lessons Learned and Insights for the Future

States have become laboratories for testing policy and programmatic ideas to address the high costs of healthcare and keep spending under control. A new report released by an expert Working Group offers a decision – making framework to guide them as they co nsider optimal approaches tailored to their needs. The report draws on an Aspen Institute convening that brought together health policy experts in the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors. Their charge was to review state – level experiences, identify learning and knowledge gaps, and summarize promising leverage points for advancing change, all with the goal of giving states fresh ideas for protecting their budgets and safeguarding the health of their residents. The work was informed by three c ommissioned papers that examined healthcare costs from three angles — competition, regulation, and infrastructure.