The Rising Cost of Health Care. (Statestats).Rising health care costs and a slowing economy have cost control back on legislative and corporate agendas. Health care spending per privately insured person has increased for the third straight year. The 7.2 percent rise in 2000 was the largest since 1990. Acceleration is spurred by the continued high cost of pharmaceuticals, and an increase in costs for hospital services. The retreat of managed care may also contribute to escalating costs. Enrollment in HMOs, the most tightly managed method of health insurance, declined between 2000 and 2001, falling from 29 percent to 23 percent of employees, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. and the Health Research and Educational Trust. In addition to enrollment decline, policy changes emphasizing consumer choice in health care providers and better availability of services may have diluted di·lute tr.v. di·lut·ed, di·lut·ing, di·lutes 1. To make thinner or less concentrated by adding a liquid such as water. 2. To lessen the force, strength, purity, or brilliance of, especially by admixture. managed care's ability to control costs. Employers--the backbone of America's health insurance system-are wrestling wrestling, sport in which two unarmed opponents grapple with one another. The object is to secure a fall, i.e., cause the opponent to lose balance and fall to the floor, and ultimately to pin the supine opponent's shoulders to the floor, through the use of body with escalating premiums and a lagging Lagging Strategy used by a firm to stall payments, normally in response to exchange rate projections. economy. Monthly premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 11 percent this year, the largest increase since 1992, according to the Kaiser report. This trend may lead to higher costs for consumers and fewer small employers offering health benefits. States also face the same dual pressures--high premiums and declining revenues. State spending for Medicaid Medicaid, national health insurance program in the United States for low-income persons; established in 1965 with passage of the Social Security Amendments and now run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. , state employee health benefits and programs for the medically uninsured medically uninsured A person or group that has/have no health insurance. See Underinsured. increased with the rapid rise in underlying medical costs. Most worrisome is that history suggests there are no quick, easy fixes to control the high cost of health care. [Graph omitted]
SOURCES OF COST INCREASE, 1999 AND 2000
1999 2000
Hospital Outpatient 21% 37%
Hospital Inpatient 5% 10%
Prescription Drug 41% 27%
Physician 33% 25%
Note: Totals do not add to 100 percent due to rounding.
Source: Milliman USA Health Cost Index ($0 deductible).
Note: Table made from bar graph
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