Bledsoe, who is a nonvoting member of a legislative task force studying overall health care reform in Arkansas, said policymakers need to improve government efficiency and make sure the benefits are only going to those for whom they’re intended. After 5 decades, insurance protection to seniors has only improved at every step and today they enjoy higher coverage compared to younger people.
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The report by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was published this week in Health Affairs.
Those are the numbers that deserve the most attention in thinking about long-term health care spending and whether the country is on a sustainable course, said Tom Getzen, executive director of the global Health Economics Association.
Growth in the nation’s health care tab slowed dramatically during the 2007-2009 economic recession. Given the rise in population and health costs, the system will no doubt be under financial strain unless some changes are made. That could be a problem for the next president, not to mention millions of other Americans. But many people saw their own medical bills rise, as employers shifted costs to workers.
“The administration’s priority was to expand coverage first”, Antos said.
Even though an increased number of people sought health coverage in 2014, medical price inflation was 1.4%. For the next decade and more, the annual growth rate will stay at around 5.8 percent, well below the 9 percent annual increase that was standard in the years prior to the Great Recession. Health spending was 10 percent of GDP in Canada last year and 11 percent in Germany, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The 2013 increase was 6.1 percent.
Approximately 55 million Americans receive health care coverage through Medicare. I remain in full support of a strong Medicare program and have advocated for the expansion of Medicaid in states, such as Texas, where millions of residents remain uninsured. The other is subsidized private insurance.
This year, spending growth is expected to slow slightly to 5.3% as these trends moderate.
Earlier this year, a report analyzed Medicaid expansion in Kentucky.
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At the same time, expensive new drugs that can cure hepatitis C are boosting spending on medications. Medicare has played a major role in a life expectancy, which is now five years more than it was in the beginning when the law went into effect. In a report released just last week, Medicare’s trustees found that Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund (or, Medicare Part A) is fully solvent until 2030. The JAMA study was conducted by researchers on behalf of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which reviewed the findings of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey from 2012 to 2015.
