title: Should we be worried about high real medical spending growth in the United States?
abstract: This paper argues that increases in medical spending growth are not necessarily causes for alarm or reasons for strong action. Especially in the private sector, increases in employers' payments for benefits should often be offset with smaller raises; whether employees' cost shares should be increased depends on a comparison of benefits and costs. Problems are more severe for public-sector spending, for the uninsured, and for those responding to distorted incentives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Systems, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: Mark V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Pauly
mesh_terms: D017047:Cost Sharing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000191:economics; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid / Q000639:trends; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States