The leading cause of rising health care costs is prescription medications. There are several factors leading to the rise; 1. Prescription costs went up an average of over 10 % (think Martin Shkreli [pharma-boy] et al) 2. 59% of people take at least one prescription daily with 15% taking 5 or more drugs per day (up from 8% a decade earlier. 3. US patients pay the highest cost for prescriptions in the world. 
As example, I had my daughter pick me up 10 tubes of acyclovir in Thailand at $2 each over the counter for cold sores. Cost in the US, $660 per tube with no refill.  I read an article where a persons insurance was billed $2532 for the same tube manufactured by Valeant (again Shkreli). Acyclovir has been around for over 40 years and they still charge up the a$$ for it.
Health care bills are the number 1 cause of personal bankruptcy in this country. I believe the first step in addressing rising health costs is to allow medicare and medicaid to negotiate prices.