The health care industry is overpaying its leaders, according to Steven Brill, author of the Time Magazine special report, "The Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us." Brill was among the speakers taking part in the panel discussion, "Drowning in Health Care Costs: All Hands on Deck," on Monday, Oct. 28, in the auditorium at the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences on Quinnipiac University's North Haven Campus.

Patrick Charmel, president and CEO of Griffin Hospital, of Derby, and State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who represented the perspective of the state employee plan that is experimenting with ways to reduce health care costs, joined Brill in an animated conversation aimed at answering the question: "How do we reduce health care costs and who will lead the charge?" Author and columnist Susan Campbell moderated the discussion.

Because the consumer pays the same co-pay at each provider, Charmel asserted, the current health insurance system offers no incentive to patients to seek out other health care providers that offer comparable care at less cost.

Lembo stated that there is a need to incentivize preventative care among patients and health care providers. But he raised the question: "When one hospital facility charges three times more than another hospital for the exact same artificial hip, we must ask 'what is layered into those costs to make them so different?'"

All three panelists agreed that there is a need for much more transparency about health care costs and effectiveness. Consumers should be able to better understand which providers have good outcomes and what the costs for service are.

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READER SUBMITTED: Journalist Steven Brill Tells Quinnipiac Panel 'Health Care Is Overpaying Its Leaders'