New data out today from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services confirmed that 2013 was another year of historically slow growth in health care spending and that 2011, 2012, and 2013 saw the slowest growth in real per capita health care spending on record. Today’s data make it increasingly clear that the recent slow growth in the cost of health care reflects more than just the 2007-2009 recession and its aftermath, but also structural changes in our health care system, including reforms made in the Affordable Care Act. As we have noted previously, if even a portion of the recent slowdown continues, the benefits for Federal and State budgets, families’ budgets, and the economy as a whole will be dramatic.
The remainder of this blog post takes a closer look at today’s report and what it can tell us about the drivers of recent trends. We also take a look ahead at 2014 using other data that are already available. Available data suggest that aggregate spending may be growing more quickly as millions of people gain health insurance coverage and access needed care. But the available data also show that health care prices, premiums, and per-enrollee costs—the factors that determine the costs families face—have continued to grow very slowly during 2014.
Fonte: White House