Medical-Price Inflation Is at Slowest Pace in 50 Years

[auditor0007]

Medical-Price Inflation Is at Slowest Pace in 50 Years

By ERIC MORATH and LOUISE RADNOFSKY CONNECT
Medical prices are rising at their slowest pace in a half century, a shift in the health-care industry that could provide relief to government and businesses' budgets while also signaling consumers are being left with a larger share of the bill.

The prices paid for medical care in July rose just 1% from a year earlier, the slowest annual rate of growth since the early 1960s, according to Commerce Department data. Health-care increases now trail overall inflation, which itself has been historically slow in recent years.

The price data help explain why growth in overall health spending has slowed down in the past several years. The trend, if continued, has big implications for the government's finances because health-care costs are the biggest long-term driver of the federal deficit.

It also is the backdrop for the biggest change in the U.S. health-care system in decades, the rollout of new health-insurance exchanges on Oct. 1 as part of the Affordable Care Act. The overhaul, which was a top goal of President Barack Obama, is likely to be judged on whether it furthers the recent cost trend, as supporters predict, or undermines it, as critics expect.

Medical-Price Inflation Is at Slowest Pace in 50 Years - WSJ.com

 

[Greenbeard]

Oh.

Kind of like in June, when the WSJ reported: "Medical Costs Register First Decline Since 1970s."

Hmm!

 

[Antares]

(wink) Poor Greenie...here in Ne 67-200% increases....

Oct 1 is coming and there will be no hiding

Here's a thought......why will people need subsidies?