# Patch Notes #003 Healthcare Affordability - Source Appendix

Version: v0.1 public source appendix
Date: 2026-07-03
Status: Baseline source anchor list, not final evidence review

## Baseline Source Anchors

### CMS National Health Expenditure Accounts

Use for official spending by service/category and payer. Caveat: NHE is macro spending data, not a direct patient-affordability measure.

- CMS National Health Expenditure Data: https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data
- CMS National Health Expenditures 2024 Highlights: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/highlights.pdf

### KFF / Peterson Health System Tracker

Use for public-facing explainers on healthcare spending, affordability, employer coverage, medical debt, and international comparisons.

- KFF Health Costs: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/
- KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey: https://www.kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2025-summary-of-findings/
- Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/
- KFF Medical Debt: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/100-million-people-in-america-are-saddled-with-health-care-debt/

### Commonwealth Fund

Use for peer-country comparison. Caveat: international comparison should not imply a direct institutional copy/paste path.

- U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

### Health Care Cost Institute

Use for employer-sponsored insurance spending and price/utilization questions. Caveat: data scope differs from Medicare, Medicaid, and public-payer analysis.

- HCCI: https://healthcostinstitute.org/

## Next Source Pass

- Hospital price and consolidation literature.
- Drug pricing, PBMs, rebates, and net/list price distinctions.
- Administrative cost and prior authorization burden.
- Medical debt and denied-claims evidence.
- Value-based care and low-value care evidence.
- State public option and rate-setting examples.
- Rural hospital finance and clinician capacity.