"Based on a sample of nearly 420 million medical claims across 963 markets, [the authors] found that in 2017: [1] If price variation were reduced by applying the median price to the highest-priced half of claims -- for every service within each market -- national spending among the [employer-sponsored insurance (ESI)] population would decrease by nearly 20%; [2] If price variation were reduced by applying the median price to the lowest-priced half of claims -- for every service in each market -- then ESI spending would rise by 10.1%; and [3] If both happened simultaneously -- the median price was assigned to all claims for all services within all markets -- spending would decline by 9.0% nationwide."  MORE >>