The Kaiser Family Foundation released recently its latest estimate of what health insurance will cost in the future. By 2021, average family premiums are set to double, to more than $32,000. This year alone the premium is $15,073, up 9% from 2010.

Who is responsible for these skyrocketing costs? According to a new study from two Columbia Universityresearchers, one of whom is a top health care adviser toPresident Obama, the answer is simple — doctors.

Many doctors make a lot of money, but they’re hardly to blame for the high cost of care. Physicians’ salaries respond directly to the exorbitant sums they must spend on education, training and practicing their craft — not to mention the high value Americans assign to health care.

The Columbia study compared doctors’ pay in six developed countries and found that U.S. earnings surpassed the rest. “We conclude that the higher fees … were the main drivers of higher U.S. spending,” authors Miriam Laugesen and Sherry Glied stated. As Laugesen put it, “With the recession we have right now, there are a lot of questions about whether physician fees can continue to go up at the pace they have.”

Harvard professor Meredith Rosenthal’s commentary on the study was more blunt: “Physicians are making five times the median income. Is that what we really want?”

Read the full article on www.usatoday.com…