Feature
Watch the Video, Earn the Credits
Learn how to improve care transitions and prevent avoidable hospital readmissions, and pick up nursing and medical education con-ed credits.
Read more
Trends in U.S. Health Care Spending Leading Up to Health Reform
Quantitative Analysis Report
A report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as part of its Affordable Care Act (ACA) Implementation—Monitoring and Tracking Series, finds that in the decade leading up to the ACA’s passage, per capita spending on personal health services among the nonelderly rose at an annual rate 3.5 percent faster than general consumer prices.
Prepared by researchers at The Urban Institute, the report analyzes the distribution of per capita spending across various health care service categories (e.g., hospital outpatient and physician, inpatient, prescription drugs, emergency room care), and breaks down the service type into changes in the number of individuals using the service; the average number of services used; and expenditures per unit of services.
By examining trends using the 2001-2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey—Household Component (MEPS-HC), the authors find that in the decade leading up to the ACA:
- Per capita health expenditures increased by 41 percent, predominantly due to increases in physician and outpatient hospital spending, followed by inpatient hospital spending;
- Per capita prescription drug expenditures increased by over 50 percent;
- Prevalence of chronic conditions appears to be an important driving force behind changes in spending; and
- Growth in costs slowed somewhat in the latter part of the decade.
This report is one in a series of briefs examining coverage and cost trends.
ACA Implementation - Monitoring and Tracking Series: Quantitative Analysis
- 1 A Decade of Coverage Losses: Implications for the Affordable Care Act
- 2 Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade
- 3 The Financial Burden of Medical Spending Among the Non-Elderly, 2010
- 4 Uninsurance is not Just a Minority Issue
- 5 Deteriorating Health Insurance Coverage: Coverage Takes the Biggest Hit in the South and Midwest
- 6 Declining Health Insurance in Low-Income Working Families and Small Businesses
- 7 Trends in U.S. Health Care Spending Leading Up to Health Reform