Slower Growth in Health Costs Saves U.S. Billions
This article is for subscribers only.
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. continues to experience avery marked slowdown in the growth of health-care costs, despitesome widely misinterpreted new reports. And a growing body ofevidence suggests the deceleration is driven by more than atemporarily weak economy -- which is good news for the federalbudget and for workers.
National health expenditures rose just 3.8 percent fromAugust 2011 to August 2012, according to an Oct. 11 report fromthe Altarum Institute. And Medicare spending increased by only3.2 percent in the fiscal year ending in September 2012,according to the Congressional Budget Office.