The health care cost spiral. Monster or myth?
Australia's total national and per capita health expenditures (both public and private) were compared with each other and with the proportion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on health care for the years 1970-1971 to 1979-1980. A triphasic pattern was noted, with steep increases in 1974-1975 and 1975-1976 but a levelling in the rate of increase since then. The concept of an inexorable health care cost spiral during the 1970s is not borne out by these results.
D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007250:Inflation, Economic / Q000639:trends