Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Tracking Health Care Costs: Trends Turn Downward in 2003
Report, in Adobe Acrobat format, in Health Affairs - "Health care spending per privately insured person increased 7.4 percent in 2003. While lower than the 2002 increase, it still outpaced growth in the overall economy by a margin that exceeds the historical average. The trend for drug spending decelerated the most. Meanwhile, hospital spending grew 9 percent in 2003—1.8 percentage points less than the 2002 increase. This reflected a sharp deceleration in growth of hospital use, while growth in hospital prices accelerated for the sixth year in a row. The trend for health insurance premiums fell in 2004. Employers raised patient cost sharing for the third year in a row." See also, in the same issue, U.S. Health Spending In An International Context.