Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs Author: Drew Altman Published: Jan 28, 2026

https://www.kff.org/from-drew-altman/our-darwinian-approach-to-health-care-costs/ In his latest column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman presents his Venn diagram of health care cost problems and shows how, in our fragmented health system, reducing one health cost problem often makes another worse. He writes, “Washington, states, employers and people would not have to scramble so much to reduce their own health spending if we did more to reduce underlying health care costs or at least tried harder. … In the absence of any meaningful way to address underlying health care costs everyone focuses on reducing spending — their own.”