A study reports highly skewed cost data with a few extremely expensive cases. What distribution characteristic is present?

• A. Left-skewed
• B. Normal distribution
• C. Right-skewed cost data
• D. Uniform distribution

Answer: (C)

When a dataset has most values clustered at lower costs but a few extreme high-cost cases, the distribution stretches out toward higher values, creating a right-skewed pattern. In cost data, those rare expensive cases pull the average up while the median sits lower, reflecting the typical patient cost more reliably. So the characteristic here is a right-skewed distribution of costs. A left-skewed pattern would show a tail toward lower costs, which isn’t described. A normal distribution would be symmetric, and a uniform distribution would have costs spread evenly across the range—neither matches the described outliers.