Don't break out the champagne: continued slowing of health care spending growth unlikely to last.
Aaron Catlin and colleagues report a fourth year of slowing of the rate of growth of personal health care spending. But many factors indicate that relief for purchasers and consumers will be short-lived. Research on local health care markets suggests that rapid expansion of provider capacity and incentives to increase volume of care are continuing. Increasing incidence of obesity is a major factor behind rising costs. The influence of the economic cycle on health spending, which has lowered the trend in recent years, is likely to reverse its impact shortly.
Ginsburg
Paul B
PB
Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, DC, USA. pginsburg@hschange.org
D004469:Economics, Hospital / Q000639:trends; D004470:Economics, Medical / Q000639:trends; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000639:trends; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology