"The Cost of Care" examines what's behind high health care costs in Dallas – and why that doesn't necessarily translate into better care. Medical care in Dallas is delivered in a broken market where doctors, hospitals and other providers shower patients with services of diminishing value but staggering cost. The spending is rooted in the city's proud entrepreneurial culture. Dallas is home to many competing hospital systems and physician practices. But this competition raises costs rather than lowering them, because it rewards those who do more procedures and tests and offers no incentive to spend less. Competition drives up spending, as demand is stimulated by health providers, not necessarily by patients. Hospital administrators argue they are only trying to keep pace with a surge in the population. David Toomey, regional president for health insurer CIGNA HealthCare, says it's an economic system turned upside down. "When you build it, they will come," he said.
Read "The Cost of Care"
See the archived story and the questionnaire in which the reporter writes about how this story was written.