Economics
Health Prices to Outpace Inflation for First Time Since 2010
- Total medical spending projected to rise by 5.3% this year
- CMS projections signal end of years of restrained price growth
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The growth in U.S. health-care prices is projected to outpace economy-wide inflation for the first time since 2010, the second report in a week to signal the end of a long stretch of restrained medical increases.
This year, price increases for personal health expenditures are projected to rise 2.2 percent, compared with 1.9 percent for overall inflation, according to a report released Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The findings confirmed a recent analysis warning that the U.S. could be at the cusp of a return to higher medical inflation.