Health Spending: The $2 Trillion Question—Or Questions

Editor’s note: This is one of several posts Health Affairs Blog will publish stemming from sessions at the June 2015 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) in Minneapolis. Watch Health Affairs Blog for additional posts on topics raised at the ARM. Author’s note: This post was inspired by an ARM session that I had the privilege of moderating. The policy roundtable included Melinda Buntin and David Stevenson of Vanderbilt University, discussing work they’ve done primarily under a grant with the Commonwealth Fund, and Michael Chernew of Harvard University, discussing work he’s done with Zack Cooper of Yale University, also primarily under a Commonwealth Fund grant. The views presented here should not be considered as necessarily representing any of those individuals, their institutions, or the Commonwealth Fund. The slowdown in U.S. health care spending over the past several years has been the focus of intense debate. A lot is at stake: the $2 trillion in the title of this piece refers to the difference between aggregate national health expenditures for 2010 through 2019 as projected in March 2010 and the total now (as of October 2014) expected over that same period (Exhibit 1). Much of the debate on this issue has been centered on three questions: What has caused this slowdown? Is it really a change? Will it continue? Reframing The Challenge Although the answers to those questions certainly are important, I suggest that, if they are not the wrong questions, they a...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Academy Health GDP health spending IOM NHE Stuart Guterman Source Type: blogs