Health Spending Growth Slows For Second Year In A Row
Although the nation spent $3.5 trillion on health last year, federal economists found that the increase in health expenses did not exceed the growth in the overall economy.
The New York Times:
Growth Of Health Care Spending Slowed Last Year
But the rate of increase for the major categories — drugs, doctors and hospitals — was more modest than in recent years. For the first time in several years, health spending grew at about the same rate as the economy as a whole in 2017. So the share of the economy devoted to health care stabilized. By contrast, over the past few decades, health spending has generally grown faster than the economy. (Pear, 12/6)
California Healthline:
Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ Is Health Spending The Next Big Political Issue?
The Republican-led Congress was unable to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, but the Trump administration continues to implement elements of the failed GOP bill using executive authority. The latest change would make it easier for states to waive some major parts of the health law, including allowing subsidies for people to buy insurance plans that don’t meet all the law’s requirements. (12/6)
The Fiscal Times:
Fixing U.S. Health Care: Can States Step Up Where Washington Has Failed?
The midterm elections may have focused extensively on health care, but the results have done little to clarify where health care reform is headed. “The future of U.S. health care reform is muddier now than at any point in the past two decades,” write researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health, University College London and the Milbank Memorial Fund in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. (Rosenberg, 12/6)