Health Spending Climbs to 16.2% of GDP

[phk]

Health Spending Climbs to 16.2% of GDP

From the CMS Office of the Actuary:

U.S. health care spending growth decelerated in 2008, increasing 4.4 percent compared to 6.0 percent in 2007, as spending growth slowed for nearly all health care goods and services, particularly for hospitals. Health spending growth for state and local and private sources of funds also slowed while federal health spending growth accelerated in 2008. Total health expenditures reached $2.3 trillion in 2008, which translates to $7,681 per person and 16.2 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite slower growth in overall health expenditures, the share of GDP devoted to health care increased from 15.9 percent in 2007.

A detailed table of health expenditures by service type (e.g., hospital, physician services) can be found here.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tqN_suvdMBOAq3S1cM2t9QQ&gid=1

Also interesting is the changes in spending by payor.  While overall Medicaid expenditure growth decelerated between 2007 and 2008, the composition of expenditures changed significantly.  Federal Medicaid spending increased by 8.4%, but state Medicaid spending actually decrease by 0.1%.  A table providing more information on the changes health expenditures by payer is available here.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tqN_suvdMBOAq3S1cM2t9QQ&gid=2

[Bo]

This is why we need some kind of healthcare reform now.

[Beet]

The entrenched special interests will never allow health care reform. We won't get reform until we have reached the "final crisis" when the system is clearly melting down. The same probably goes for the national debt.

[Bo]

Steak is better than bacon.