Where did all the affordable health care go? Note the modest or no increase in prices. What this means of course is that for health care spending to grow by 5.7% that growth comes from increased utilization; no doubt in part driven by the expansion of Americans with health insurance. While we hear a great deal about the slowing in health care spending ( mostly from politicians), the fact is such spending is still growing many times the rate of the overall CPI; not much different from the past. Whoopee‼️
Health Care Spending Up 5.7% in January
MARCH 13, 2015
ANN ARBOR, MI—Preliminary estimates indicate that national health spending grew by 5.7% in January 2015 compared with January 2014, suggesting that the strong growth in the latter half of 2014 is carrying forward into the new year. Spending on prescription drugs continued its double-digit growth at 11.6%. Growth for all of 2014 is now estimated at 5.0%, with a pattern of acceleration over the year. The health-spending share of gross domestic product was 17.9% in December, up from 16.0% at the start of the recession in December 2007. This represents an all-time high share of the economy devoted to the health sector.
Health care prices in January 2015 were 1.2% higher than in January 2014, dramatically lower than the December year-over-year change of 1.8%. Year-over-year hospital prices fell 0.1% in January, far below the December gain of 0.9% and the only recorded fall in prices since this series began in 1992. Physician and clinical services prices were flat, after rising 0.6% in December. Prescription drug prices rose 5.6%, down slightly from the December figure of 6.4% but well above the 4% growth of the previous months.
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Altarum Institute (www.altarum.org) integrates objective research and client-centered consulting skills to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. A nonprofit serving clients in the public and private sectors, Altarum employs more than 400 individuals and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI with additional offices in the Washington, DC area; Portland, ME; and San Antonio, TX
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