U.S. health spending for 1998 rose 5.6 percent in relation to the previous year as reported by Nando Media.
Rising costs for prescription drugs and higher insurance premiums are the primary cause for increases in the nation’s health care spending.
Total health care spending for 1998 was up 5.6 percent, compared with 4.7 percent in 1997, according to an annual report from the Health Care Financing Administration. 1998 saw the biggest cost increase since an 8.7 percent jump in 1993.
HCFA’s report was published in the public policy journal Health Affairs.
According to the report, overall health care spending rose to $4,094 per person in 1998, or a total of $1.1 trillion – from $3,912 per person in 1997. Spending on prescription drugs grew more than any other category, climbing by 15.4 percent in 1998 to $90.6 billion.
With more news drugs coming to market more rapidly, growth in drug costs has been steadily accelerating since 1993.
Two articles contain in depth information on health spending through 1998. An article titled “Health Spending in 1998: Signals of Change” will appear in the January/February 2000 issue of Health Affairs, a publication of Project Hope. A second article on this topic will appear in the Winter 1999 issue of the Health Care Financing Review, the journal of the Health Care Financing Administration.
Nando Media: Health spending rose 5.6 percent in 1998
HFCA: Health Care Financing Administration
planetc1.com-news @ 7:51 am | Article ID: 947523117
Comments are closed for this article!