Out-Of-Pocket Payments For Health Care Rose Over Past Decade; Increase In Chronic Disease Played Key Role

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 07 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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A rise in chronic disease, particularly among baby boomers and older adults, was a key driver of the fact that consumers spent about 40 percent more out of pocket for health care over the past 10 years, Kathryn Paez and coauthors report in the January/February 2009 issue of Health Affairs, a thematic volume on chronic illness. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol28/issue1/ The study shows that the prevalence of chronic disease in the United States has burgeoned since 1996 not just among the "oldest old" but also among people in midlife and early old age -- regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, or income. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/15

Other issue highlights include:

-- A report from the federal government that national health care spending grew at its lowest rate in nearly a decade in 2007, largely as a result of slower spending on prescription drugs. Health care spending grew 6.1 percent in 2007, down slightly from 6.7 percent in 2006 and the slowest rate of growth since 1998. Overall, health care spending reached $2.2 trillion, or $7,421 per person, say analysts from the National Health Statistics Group in the CMS Office of the Actuary.http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/246/

-- Lynn Etheredge explores the leadership role that Medicare might play in raising the bar in cancer treatment. He proposes more emphasis by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on effectiveness research for cancer treatments; reformulated quality measures clearly showing who provides the best cancer care; payment reforms incentivizing such excellent care; and new agency leadership explicitly committed to promoting best practices for treatment of Medicare cancer patients. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/148

-- Susan Brink looks at the benefits and costs of efforts to prevent chronic disease through the prism of the landmark federal study known as the Diabetes Prevention Program. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/1/57

http://content.healthaffairs.org