Health care spending for 2004
Health Affairs
February 11, 2004
Health Spending Projections Through 2013
By Stephen Heffler, Sheila Smith, Sean Keehan, M. Kent Clemens, Mark
Zezza, and Christopher Truffer
Projected spending for 2004:
National Health Expenditures (NHE): $1.7936 trillion
NHE per capita: $6,167
NHE, as percent of GDP: 15.5%
The current combination of sharply accelerating health spending, labor markets that have yet to fully recover, and rising budget deficits may be reviving thoughts about cost containment. Although it is unclear what direction new efforts to restrain health costs might take, historical behavior suggests that a continued escalation in health spending of the magnitude of recent experience will likely spur efforts to contain ths growth. The form that these efforts take can be expected to shape the nature of health care financing and delivery over the coming decade.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.w4.79
Comment: Health care spending continues to increase well in excess of the rate of inflation. Dramatic changes in health care financing are already taking place as each sector attempts to contain its own health care costs. The sector with the least control is also the most vulnerable: patients with significant health care needs.
Rather than shifting funding to individual patients, making health care less and less affordable, let’s adopt a system that will remove financial barriers to beneficial care. A single, publicly administered system could contain costs while ensuring that care would always be there for those who need it.