Columnist Zack Cooper is a health economist working at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. Zack’s work focuses on the impact of competition in hospital and insurance markets, incentive structure and payment system design. More broadly, he is interested in using market forces to create effective incentives within the public sector. Zack’s most recent work has examined the impact of patient choice and provider competition in the English National Health Service. He is currently looking at the impact of hospital and insurance market structure on provider reimbursement rates in the US and launching a project on comparative hospital performance.
In addition to his academic work, Zack has worked as an advisor and speechwriter to several policy-makers and politicians. Zack’s editorials have appeared in a number of leading newspapers, and he is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. Zack appears frequently in the popular press, including on the BBC, Sky News, ABC, CBS, and National Public Radio. His research has been cited in the Financial Times, the Times, the Independent, the Washington Post, the Evening Standard, the Economist, the Health Service Journal and the Guardian.
Zack completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago and did his masters and Ph.D. at the London School of Economics.
Previous
Latest Altarum data shows that total health spending rose 5.2 percent in September compared with a year ago. The growth was led by higher hospital spending. But health price inflation remained relatively flat - up only 2.1 percent compared with a year ago and consistent with trends this year.