Health-Care Price Rise Poses Challenge for U.S. Overhaul

Medical prices accelerated faster than some projections last year and the number of uninsured is rising, according to data that show the U.S. goal of expanding health care is veering onto a more difficult road.

Costs for people with employer-sponsored insurance plans jumped 4.6 percent in 2011, more than the government’s 3.9 percent estimate for the entire health system, the Health Care Cost Institute, which analyzed claims from UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc., said today. A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the number of people without insurance climbed 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012.