"HALF of all health care costs in the US is concentrated in only 5% of the population, and 80% of costs are accounted for by the top quintile!" - Christopher Galtenberg

"So the effect here is that with such a concentration of costs in such a small segment of the population, the ability of the larger population to move the market is highly restricted. You can make 80% of consumers highly price sensitive, but they can only affect a tiny fraction of healthcare spending." - Christopher Galtenberg

"Conversely, those who are high consumers of health care simply cannot be made more price sensitive, since their costs are probably well beyond what they could pay in any event, and for most are well beyond the limits of even a catastrophic health insurance policy." - Christopher Galtenberg

Follow-on: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011... - Christopher Galtenberg