(Reuters) 1in 5 US dollars to be spent on health care: study

[rodeodance]

my gawd!!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060222/pl_nm/economy_healthcare_dc;_ylt=AhOcKMnqsuX.iSjendEAyv2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-

1in 5 US dollars to be spent on health care: study

Wed Feb 22, 12:35 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health-care spending is outpacing the growth of the American economy and will consume 20 percent of U.S. gross domestic product by 2015, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said on Wednesday.


By comparison, health-care spending accounted for about 16 percent of U.S.GDP in 2004, the latest year for which data are available, according to a study by CMS economists published in the journal Health Affairs.

National health care spending will grow by an average 7.2 percent annually over the coming decade, the study said. That would be slower than in recent years but still 2.1 percent faster than GDP growth, it said.

Recent annual growth in American health care spending peaked at 9.1 percent in 2002........

[wishlist]

1. U.S. went down wrong path to let health care become profit making industry

Those of us on fixed income pensions or stable wages with health insurance premiums deducted have seen our incomes drop in past 5 years because cost of living increases barely keep up with the increased insurance premiums and the higher medical bills from deductibles and copays that aren't covered. And those with no or little insurance are really hurting because of the skyrocketing costs.

[applegrove]

2. All you have to stop it is preventive medicine. And risky insurance

plans with high deductable are bad for preventive medicine.

[0007]

3. Could you be a little more clear?

[applegrove]

4. Preventive medicine and regular doctor's check-ups stop illness.

If you don't have national health care then people avoid the doctor because they have to pay for the check up. So the health care system is geared towards long term illness instead of behaviour modification through regular doctor check-ups.

[applegrove]

16. Read Malcolm Gladwell's piece in from the New Yorka... August I think.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Countries with "socialized medicine" do it for 8-10% of their

respective GDPs. And they do it for everyone, and by most measures they do it better than we do.

[FlaGranny]

6. Interesting that health care workers

have NOT had a corresponding increase in earnings. Wonder where all that money is going? Could it be to CEO's and stockholders of insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and companies like Dr. Frists'? Do ya think?

Edit: I forgot to say I think they are ghouls.

[OKNancy]

7. kick

[deadparrot]

8. Analysts: Health Care Costs to Keep Rising

WASHINGTON - Within a decade, an aging America will spend one of every five dollars on health care, according to government analysts who see no end to increases in the cost of going to the doctor and taking medicine.

The nation's total health care bill by 2015: more than $4 trillion. Consumers will foot about half the bill, the government the rest.

Hospital costs will rise more quickly than previously anticipated, reflecting a construction boom for urban hospitals. Meanwhile, drug costs are expected to be lower because of a greater reliance on generics, and because insurers administering the new Medicare drug benefit were able to negotiate steeper discounts than previously anticipated.

The projections, published in the journal Health Affairs, come as President Bush urges Americans to confront the rising cost of health care. In his State of the Union address last month, the president pushed health savings accounts, or HSAs, and the high-deductible insurance plans that go with them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222/ap_on_he_me/health_care_costs

[shoelace414]

9. I'm shocked.. shocked I tell you

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. And health care isn't factored into the rate of inflation.

[raccoon]

11. Who did this, analysts at the Duh Institute? nt

[fencesitter]

12. Health cost to double in decade

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13928808.htm

Philadelphia Inquirer

Spending on health care will total $4 trillion - $12,320 a person - in 2015, according to government predictions.By Tony PughInquirer Washington BureauWASHINGTON - National health-care spending will double to $4 trillion a year over the next decade, outpacing the growth of wages, inflation and the U.S. economy as a whole, according to new government projections released yesterday.
By 2015, one in every five dollars spent in the United States will go toward medical costs.
The sobering cost data reflect the effect of aging baby boomers, the cost of the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, declining rates of insurance coverage, and rising hospital costs.

<snip>

The increased spending on health care, combined with a trend by private insurers to pass more costs to consumers, means fewer people, particularly the working poor, will be able to afford health care in the coming years.
Economist Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan health-research group in Washington, said: "When spending on health care goes up faster than earnings, lower-paid people are priced out of the health insurance market."
Likewise, Ginsburg said, employers will be less likely to provide coverage.

More..

[Kolesar]

13. declining rates of insurance coverage causes total spending to go up?

>The sobering cost data reflect the effect of aging baby boomers, the cost of the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, declining rates of insurance coverage, and rising hospital costs.

[Cobalt Violet]

14. Lower-paid people are already priced out of the market.

This will go further up the pay scale than working poor. Healthcare is becoming something for only the the top 2%.

[ret5hd]

15. so, they are claiming health costs will only inflate at 7% a year?

(7% a year over 10 years = 196% peer my calculater)

i think healthcare is rising faster than that already.