Report: California Health Care Spending Grows, Rate Slows
Total spending on health care in California grew by almost 300% from 1991 to 2009, but the state's spending growth rate has slowed in recent years, according to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation, the Los Angeles Times' "Money & Co." reports.
CHCF publishes California Healthline.
Report Findings
According to the report, "Since reaching its peak of 9.7% in 2003, the pace of growth in health spending has been decelerating. By 2009, towards the end of the recession, spending grew [by]Â 4.5%, similar to the U.S. rate of 4.6%, and the slowest pace since 1999."
The report also found that:
- Health care spending in California per capita in 2009 was $6,238, the ninth-lowest in the U.S.;
- Spending on health care accounted for 12.2% of California's economy, a smaller portion than most states;
- Hospital and physician services accounted for the majority of health care spending, at 63%; and
- Medicare and Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, accounted for nearly 40% of the state's health care spending, compared with 27% in 1991 (McMahon, "Money & Co.," Los Angeles Times, 5/9).