Steep Rise Projected for Health Spending (Health Savings to have no impact

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-healthcost22feb22,0,2473190.story?track=tottext

Steep Rise Projected for Health Spending
By Lisa Girion and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Times Staff Writers

February 22, 2006

WASHINGTON — Healthcare will account for 1 in 5 dollars spent in the United States by 2015, and health savings accounts are unlikely to help much in containing costs, government analysts said Tuesday.

The U.S.' healthcare bill is expected to reach $4 trillion by that year, according to an annual forecast by the National Health Statistics Group at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

At that point, health spending will consume 20% of the country's gross domestic product, up from 16% today, with the government paying about half of the tab, the researchers predicted.

Although the new Medicare drug benefit may help tame the growth of prescription costs, the government economists and actuaries who compiled the forecast said they weren't expecting much from health savings accounts, which the Bush administration has touted as a key means to control spending.<snip>

"I wouldn't argue with their assessment," said Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based think tank and one of the earliest promoters of consumer-driven healthcare. He said federal rules had hamstrung insurance companies' ability to offer the accounts with features that would make them more popular. <snip>

[hatrack]

1. Gosh, color me shocked!

:eyes:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. "Although the new Medicare drug benefit may help tame the growth of

prescription costs..."

ummm. not so much...

Reports: Drug prices rise under US Medicare plan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2124727


this was written from a press release... it had to be, there are so many flawed statements.

snip>
...National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based think tank and one of the earliest promoters of consumer-driven healthcare. He said federal rules had hamstrung insurance companies' ability to offer the accounts with features that would make them more popular.


So, it's big government rules that are causing all the trouble? Nothing to do with the fact that the whole premise is false, I'm sure. :eyes:

[sui generis]

3. why?

Because we have no caps on pharmaceutical or medical services pricing, and medical adjunctives such as lab work, xrays, etc. are going to publicly traded corporations.

We have high medical costs in general because it costs a mind boggling fortune to put a doctor through medical school and doctors need to be solvent or they can't have and pay for a private practice.

The question is not whether we have inflation but in which market segments do we have inflation and what are its real causes.

This one ain't related to inverted yield curves.

[papau]

4. You got that right - at least a half million for a surgeon, over $200,000

for just getting the MD (the extra for surgeon is in forgone wages).

But the kids get the "benefit" of loans that have only a 4% interest rate!