Sustainable Health Spending Under the Ryan Path for Federal Non-Health Spending (posted 04/05/12)
On “the Myth of Runaway Health Spending”: Is the Crisis Really Ending? (posted 03/05/12)
What Is “Sustainable” Health Spending? (posted 02/07/12)
Thoughts on Robert Samuelson's "Cutting Health-Care Spending the Old-Fashioned Way" (posted 01/27/12)
What is “Sustainable” Health Spending? (Part I) (posted 12/01/11)
There is surprisingly little consensus – and not even much being written – about what growth rate would be “sustainable”? Defining sustainable growth and establishing a credible target is one of our top research priorities. Read Full Post
A Brief History of Health Spending Since 1965 (posted 09/20/11)
Since last March when we began tracking national health expenditures (NHE) on a monthly basis, we have been wondering when the health spending share of GDP would hit the 18 percent threshold. The recent downward revision of historical GDP estimates has provided the answer – it already happened — back in the summer of 2009, around the time when the recession was declared officially over. Read Full Post
Must We Bend the Health Care Employment Curve? (posted 07/19/11)
Monthly employment figures for June (released on July 8) were much lower than anticipated and have caused new doubts about the robustness of the economic recovery. The increase in payroll jobs was only 18,000, a fraction of what had been expected by most forecasters. Read Full Post
The Case for Tracking Health Spending as a Share of "Potential" GDP (posted 05/11/11)
In my last Altarum Health Policy blog, I discussed how to recognize a bent health care cost curve. This curve was defined in terms of health spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure that is closely watched by health economists and policymakers who are concerned with the share of national income needed to fund health care. Read Full Post
How to Recognize a Bent Health Care Cost Curve (posted 03/28/11)
As noted in our most recent Health Sector Economic Indicators release, health spending has grown at historically low rates for the past 28 consecutive months (September 2008 through January 2011). In addition, the health spending share of gross domestic product has remained stable since the start of the recovery in June 2009. Read Full Post
We Can’t Bend the Cost Curve Without Talking About Costs (posted 01/24/11)
Data from the National Health Statistics Group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that health spending accounted for 17.6 percent of the gross domestic product in 2009—up a full percentage point from 2008. There was a time when a 10 percent share was viewed as apocalyptic. Read Full Post
Evaluating the Obama Health Plan: We Need Both Short-Term Affordability and Long-Term Sustainability (posted 10/01/08)
Although there is considerable attention paid to addressing cost growth and investing in public health and prevention, the most noteworthy aspect of Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s health care plan is its focus on attempting to make insurance affordable for all Americans Read Full Post