Where Does the Blame for High Health Care Costs Go? An Empirical Analysis of Newspaper and Journal Articles Criticizing Health Care Costs

Public perception of whom to blame for health care costs varies. Whether there is a mismatch between the causes of rising health care costs and the blame attributed to potential culprits has emerged as a topic of debate. We sought to compare the allocation of blame for rising health care costs in lay media articles and academic literature with actual health care spending in the United States.