Report: U.S. healthcare cost growth slowing down

[ScienceRocks]

Report: U.S. healthcare cost growth slowing down



Published: June 18, 2013 at 9:22 PM

NEW YORK, June 18 (UPI) -- U.S. healthcare inflation is projected to drop to 6.5 percent next year despite millions more newly insured Americans added to the system, consultants say.

In its annual report, "Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers," PwC's Health Research Institute said the decline in spending growth -- healthcare inflation -- is a signal of progress in the quest to bend the cost curve, or lower healthcare spending.

The ongoing slowdown in the healthcare growth rate defies historical post-recession patterns and is likely to be sustained even as the Affordable Care Act adds millions more to the insurance rolls, the report said.

From 2001-03 healthcare spending inflation peaked at 8.8 percent in a year, but most of the slowdown since 2008 was due to the weak economy as workers delayed treatment, or people lost jobs and health insurance.

Read more: Ongoing slowdown in healthcare cost growth defies historic patterns - UPI.com



WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I'm just hoping that this doesn't harm innovation and research.

 

[Greenbeard]

The very same slowdown that's melted hundreds of billions off the cost of Medicare and Medicaid.

The Recent Changes in CBO’s Baseline Reflect Trends That Have Developed Over the Past Few Years

In recent years, health care spending has grown much more slowly both nationally and for federal programs than historical rates would have indicated. For example, in 2012, federal spending for Medicare and Medicaid was about 5 percent below the amount that CBO had projected in March 2010.

In response to that slowdown, over the past several years CBO has made a series of downward adjustments to its projections of spending for Medicaid and Medicare. For example, from the March 2010 baseline to the current baseline, technical revisions—mostly reflecting the slower growth in the programs’ spending in recent years—have lowered CBO’s estimates of federal spending for the two programs in 2020 by about $200 billion—by $126 billion for Medicare and by $78 billion for Medicaid, or by roughly 15 percent for each program.

 

[Freewill]

Seriously, going up at a 6.5 rate is good news? I realize it is better then going up even faster but 6.5 far outstrips most people's wage increases.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Good news is always bad news for a nutter when their guy is not POTUS. Sadly.

 

[Greenbeard]

Seriously, going up at a 6.5 rate is good news? I realize it is better then going up even faster but 6.5 far outstrips most people's wage increases.

An unsustainable industry is beginning to restructure to bring itself into the 21st century. We're experiencing the slowest health care price inflation since 1998 (when the cost curve briefly bent), the slowest health spending growth in the 52 years that data has been tracked, and the lowest group health insurance premium increases since, again, 1998 according to Mercer. Meanwhile, quality indicators are improving, among providers and health plans.

So yes, that's good news.

From PwC:

The numbers are encouraging. Medical inflation has slowed—from an unsustainable 11% in 1990 to 3.9% in 2011, according to the most recent government data available.44 Annual Medicare spending rose just 1.7% per beneficiary from 2010 to 2012, compared to 6% per year in the previous two decades. The slower trend has been welcome news for healthcare purchasers and federal budget writers, but poses difficulties for healthcare organizations.

Initially, the slowdown was attributed primarily to cuts in payments to doctors, hospitals, and drug makers. Over time, however, the industry has begun to refashion itself, and for the second year in a row, HRI’s annual report on medical cost trend identifies structural changes that are altering how and where care is provided. In the case of some changes, such as accountable care organizations it is still too early to know whether the savings will be significant and long term.

It appears the cost curve is starting to bend—now the question is whether the health industry can continue on the path to full transformation.

 

[FA_Q2]

Good news is always bad news for a nutter when their guy is not POTUS. Sadly.

And yet Obama was never mentioned. Hacks such as yourself rarely understand that not everyone else sees the world with red and blue tinged glasses.

Slowing down to 6 percent is a start but far from good. We need HC costs to keep pace with the economy.

 

[editec]

When the aggregate spending for HC starts to come down from its 18% of the GDP, then we will know that ACA is working.

If the burden is merely transferred from the public sector to the private sector then we really have not made any real progress.

 

[Greenbeard]

And yet Obama was never mentioned. Hacks such as yourself rarely understand that not everyone else sees the world with red and blue tinged glasses.

PwC gives the ACA its due numerous times. E.g.

The ACA will also play a role in the slowdown in 2014, with hospitals working to hold down expensive readmissions (or face the law’s penalties) and employers being given greater power to influence employee behavior through increased or discounted premiums—up to 50% in some cases.

The ACA encourages hospitals to get treatment right the first time. The estimated savings from better care is $630 million in 2014, increasing to more than $1 billion in 2015.24

The ACA, with its new insurance marketplaces, accelerates the move to consumer-driven plans.

The UPI article was a little less explicit about pointing that out than, say, the Bloomberg article on the report:

Provisions in the Affordable Care Act that penalize hospitals for excessive readmissions and encourage employers to offer wellness programs are slowing the growth of U.S. medical costs, even as the economy rebounds.

Health-care costs for commercial insurers and employers are expected to rise about 4.5 percent next year after accounting for changes in benefits, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said in a report today. The increase is a percentage point less than what the consulting company projected for 2013.

The report cited the positive effect of provisions in the health-care law that reduced hospital readmissions by 70,000 in 2012 and lowered premiums for people in employer-sponsored smoking cessation or chronic-disease management programs. The report supports President Barack Obama’s contentions that the 2010 law has contributed to historically slow cost growth.

“It’s picking up speed and force,” said Ceci Connolly, managing director of PwC’s Health Research Institute in Washington. Provisions such as the readmission penalties “will be having a measurable impact across the health system.”

Employers are encouraged under the law to vary insurance premiums based on whether workers participate in wellness programs, and hospitals that re-admit too many patients within 30 days of a discharge face Medicare payment penalties.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Good news is always bad news for a nutter when their guy is not POTUS. Sadly.

And yet Obama was never mentioned. Hacks such as yourself rarely understand that not everyone else sees the world with red and blue tinged glasses.

Slowing down to 6 percent is a start but far from good. We need HC costs to keep pace with the economy.

So....you don't think this is good news either? It is a start at obtaining "good news" status......but it is not yet good news?

Is it bad news?

 

[Greenbeard]

It's worth noting that there are even more promising signs, beyond the ones PwC chose to focus on in their new report.

Obamacare Shows Hospital Savings as Patients Make Gains

Less than five months before the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in, hospitals are improving care and saving millions of dollars with one of the least touted but potentially most effective provisions of the law.

While much of the focus on Obamacare has been on the government rush to open insurance exchanges by Oct. 1, 252 hospitals and physician groups across the U.S. have signed up to join the administration’s accountable care program, in which they share the financial risk of keeping patients healthy.

Under the program, hospitals and physician practices take responsibility for tracking and maintaining the health of elderly and disabled patients. If costs rise beyond an agreed upon level, hospitals may become responsible for reimbursing the government. If they cut the cost of care while maintaining quality, hospitals share in the savings. The government expects the savings may be as much as $1.9 billion from 2012 to 2015. Early indications suggest they are starting to add up.

 

[lynn63]

Costs are going down is largely due to that 78% of the working population now have high deductibles which is making it difficult to obtain healthcare services. The federal government in preparation for 2014 reduce funding to states for their Medicaid population. People on Medicaid now have a co-pay to pay for medical services.
The new system that each state had to implement for electronic reporting is making it harder to cheat the federal government to obtain additional funding. This means that the government was paying too much for these social programs based on error reporting from state governments who said they had more people enrolled in their programs when there was actually much less.

 

[ScienceRocks]

I want to see the cost of health care start going down! Please god let it be soon.

 

[auditor0007]

Seriously, going up at a 6.5 rate is good news? I realize it is better then going up even faster but 6.5 far outstrips most people's wage increases.

For years, from the mid 90's through 2008 the rate of increase was pushing 15%. This is very good news.

 

[auditor0007]

It's worth noting that there are even more promising signs, beyond the ones PwC chose to focus on in their new report.

Obamacare Shows Hospital Savings as Patients Make Gains

Less than five months before the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in, hospitals are improving care and saving millions of dollars with one of the least touted but potentially most effective provisions of the law.

While much of the focus on Obamacare has been on the government rush to open insurance exchanges by Oct. 1, 252 hospitals and physician groups across the U.S. have signed up to join the administration’s accountable care program, in which they share the financial risk of keeping patients healthy.

Under the program, hospitals and physician practices take responsibility for tracking and maintaining the health of elderly and disabled patients. If costs rise beyond an agreed upon level, hospitals may become responsible for reimbursing the government. If they cut the cost of care while maintaining quality, hospitals share in the savings. The government expects the savings may be as much as $1.9 billion from 2012 to 2015. Early indications suggest they are starting to add up.

Won't be long now before Republicans begin taking credit for Obamacare saying it was a Republican idea to begin with.

 

[Greenbeard]

ObamaCare premiums lower than expected - The Hill's Healthwatch

The monthly cost of health insurance under President Obama's healthcare law is consistently coming in lower than expected.

Premiums for a middle-of-the-road policy have come in below earlier estimates in all nine states that have released their initial rate information.

A new analysis from Avalere Health says the lower-than-expected prices show that the central piece of the healthcare law — new insurance exchanges in each state — is working as intended.

“The initial data suggest that competition in exchanges is working to lower premiums, which will benefit nonsubsidized enrollees and the federal government,” said Caroline Pearson, vice president at Avalere Health.

Avalere compared early filings for the specific plans the government will use to determine the level of tax credits available to help people cover the cost of their premiums.

In the nine states that have publicized their 2014 rates, every benchmark plan came in cheaper than estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.

 

[Greenbeard]

Won't be long now before Republicans begin taking credit for Obamacare saying it was a Republican idea to begin with.

That's going to be some interesting political jujitsu. That said, nicknaming the law after your opponent, voting 30+ times to repeal it, and even going so far as to refuse to provide constituent services around it make it very, very hard to turn around and embrace it.

No, I think the GOP at the federal level boxed itself in. You're going to see it begin at the state level, with Republican officeholders and, especially, candidates slowly moving to support one piece after another (we've already seen it from big state GOP governors around the country, particularly with regard to the Medicaid expansion).

 

[jan]

Let's see...pay raises are frozen at a lot of places of employment. We're getting about .02% interest on savings accounts at the bank...interest rates are still fairly low...but healthcare costs continue to rise at a rate of about 7%.

What is wrong with this picture? I mean, really...how does this happen?

 

[healthmyths]

NOT one of you mentioned the biggest cost driver in health care!
Not one of you mentioned what 90% of the experts i.e. physicians that drive this BIGGEST cost driver surveyed says wastefully they project at $850 billion a year.

Obamacare taxed tanning salons 10%. Prosthetics manufacturers 3% on Gross sales.
YET the biggest cost driver was ignored.
AND this same group of Obama idiots can't even agree on how many people have health insurance coverage i.e. their census bureau shows that!
All of this and again totally ignoring the biggest cost driver!
These same idiots that tout "insurance Exchanges" seem to be ignoring the FACT that of the 1,300 health insurance companies largest companies aren't participating!

UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. insurer, said it would end up in as few as 10 exchanges and only up to 25 maximum.

Aetna on Tuesday said that it was not planning a “land grab” when it comes to expanding through the exchanges and has submitted applications to offer plans in 14 states.

WellPoint, which operates Blue Cross Blue Shield licenses in 14 states, said it plans to enter exchanges in those states, but that there is uncertainty around timing of the overall rollout of exchanges. Humana Inc. said it is participating in 14 states. Cigna said it will participate in a “limited” number of markets that it has already zeroed in on for growth.
Caroline Pearson, vice president for health reform at consulting firm Avalere Health, said the barriers for insurers are high to break into a new insurance market.
“To come in as a new carrier, do marketing to build your brand name, and build a provider network from scratch is very, very hard,” she said.
Health Insurers Cautious About Joining State Health Exchanges

All of which doesn't faze the Obamatrons! Because they are so totally ignorant as to even the SIZE of the problem!
A) Never have been more then 4 million people that wanted and needed health insurance... If they can't grasp that fact HOW can they run 1/6th of the economy?
B) They totally ignored the $850 billion wasteful biggest cost driver according to physicians.. "Defensive Medicine" out of fear of lawsuits!

These two factors are spelling the destruction of health care!

 

[rdean]

Report: U.S. healthcare cost growth slowing down

You can only squeeze so much out of Americans even though Republicans believe in "let him die" as a Health Care Plan. They feel being concerned about Americans is "socialism" (gasp) and HC Companies squeezing as much as they can out of Americans is "good capitalism".

 

[healthmyths]

And I don't get hysterical about things I have an abysmal knowledge if any knowledge!
What do you know about "HC profits, squeezing as much.."?
What EXTREME profits do HC make? 10%? 15%? 20%?
How much of every premium dollar goes directly to pay claims? 20¢? 30¢?, 80¢?
Are you aware if a person that signs the financial statements for HC reports that are fraudulent they will serve prison time?
So when you make the hysterical statement "squeezing"... do you know what you are doing?