Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Exploding health care costs
[Mark Sherman, Associated Press, "Health care spending: $1.7 trillion," The Wichita Eagle, 11 February 2004.]
While the trend has moderated slightly, health care costs continue to rise and are expected to do so far into the future:
The CMS report, released on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, said that health care spending grew a projected 7.8 percent in 2003, down from 9.3 percent in 2002.
Health care spending, however, is projected to outpace growth in the rest of the economy for the next 10 years, CMS said. By 2013, annual spending on health is expected to reach $3.4 trillion and be more than 18 percent of gross domestic product.
Dan Crippen, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said that huge changes in health care spending lie just beyond 2013, the end of the period covered in the report, when Baby Boomers start reaching retirement age.
"It will be the beginning of something we haven't seen before," Crippen said.
The outlook may be bleak, but policymakers can and should take action now to help prevent the coming crisis.
[Richard B. Warner, M.D., "Relief From Health Care Inflation," The Kansas Physician, September/October 2002.]
[Mark Sherman, Associated Press, "Health care spending: $1.7 trillion," The Wichita Eagle, 11 February 2004.]
While the trend has moderated slightly, health care costs continue to rise and are expected to do so far into the future:
The CMS report, released on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs, said that health care spending grew a projected 7.8 percent in 2003, down from 9.3 percent in 2002.
Health care spending, however, is projected to outpace growth in the rest of the economy for the next 10 years, CMS said. By 2013, annual spending on health is expected to reach $3.4 trillion and be more than 18 percent of gross domestic product.
Dan Crippen, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said that huge changes in health care spending lie just beyond 2013, the end of the period covered in the report, when Baby Boomers start reaching retirement age.
"It will be the beginning of something we haven't seen before," Crippen said.
The outlook may be bleak, but policymakers can and should take action now to help prevent the coming crisis.
[Richard B. Warner, M.D., "Relief From Health Care Inflation," The Kansas Physician, September/October 2002.]
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