How 2016 Drug Spending Stacks Up

We have written many times about the way growth in drug spending has significantly been below the growth rate of overall national healthcare spending, despite the media spotlight on the issue. Total nominal United States health care spending increased at a rate of 4.3% and reached $3.3 trillion in 2016. Per capita spending on health care also increased by $354, totaling $10,348. Health spending growth did decelerate in 2016, however, following faster growth in 2014 and 2015 associated with coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act and strong retail prescription drug spending growth. In 2016 the slowdown was broadly based, as spending for the largest categories by payer and by service decelerated. Enrollment trends drove the slowdown in Medicaid and private health insurance spending growth in 2016, while slower per enrollee spending growth influenced Medicare spending. Furthermore, spending for retail prescription drugs slowed, partly as a result of lower spending for drugs used to treat hepatitis C, while slower use and intensity of services drove the slowdown in hospital care and physician and clinical services. Going a step further, a recent post online shows that in 2016, all payers had a slowdown in spending – employers’ drug spending was essentially flat while consumers paid less out of pocket (on average). Additionally, spending by government payers exceeded the spending by employers for the third year in a row. More specifically, private health insuranc...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs