Fewer than 20% of adults in the United States know the cost of their health care products or services before receiving them, and almost all of them believe health care organizations need to make costs more transparent. What’s more, only about 3 in 10 American adults feel those costs reflect the quality of the products and services they receive.

Sparks flew on Capitol Hill Thursday as the CEOs of three drug companies faced questions from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about why drug prices are so much higher in the United States than they are in the rest of the world.

A new state office charged with controlling the rising cost of health care in California is moving toward one of the most aggressive goals in the nation, aiming to cap cost increases to 3% a year.

This isn’t the first time Assemblymember Ash Kalra has tried to create a single-payer health coverage system in California. The San Jose Democrat first introduced Assembly Bill 1400 about three years ago. Called Guaranteed Health Care for All, it sought to create CalCare — a universal, single-payer health care coverage and cost control system for the state. ...

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a major pharmaceutical industry lobbying group and two other organizations that challenged Medicare’s new powers to negotiate prices for costly prescription medicines.

In the battle to control health care costs, hospitals are deploying their political power to protect their bottom lines. The point of contention: For decades, Medicare has paid hospitals — including hospital-owned physician practices that may not be physically located in a hospital building — about double the rates it pays other doctors and facilities ...