Health-Care Costs Rise Faster Than U.S. Inflation Rate
This article is for subscribers only.
Doctors, hospitals and drugmakers raised prices faster than inflation in 2010, driving U.S. health costs higher as fewer Americans sought care after the recession.
Spending on workers covered on the job grew 3.3 percent per person in 2010, twice the general inflation rate, according to a report today from the Health Care Cost Institute, a Washington group that examined data from insurers including UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Aetna Inc. While costs increased, enrollment in employer-sponsored plans declined, the researchers said.