Cost of medical care

The Medical Care Cost Ratchet

Since 1970, the annual growth in U.S. health care spending per capita has been more than double the real growth in GDP per capita: 4.3 percent versus 2 percent. Over that same time period countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) averaged an annual growth rate of 3.8 percent in health care spending per capita compared to only a 2.1 percent annual gr...

High-cost users of medical care

Based on data from the National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey, the 10 percent of the noninstitutionalized U.S. population that incurred the highest medical care charges was responsible for 75 percent of all incurred charges. Health status was the strongest predictor of high-cost use, followed by economic factors. Persons 65 years of age or over incurred far higher costs than y...

Health Care Cost Containment and Medical Innovation

Introduction Innovations in medical care have led to improvements in quality and quantity of life. Researchers estimated that improvements in medical care contributed to the life expectancy for newborns increasing by almost seven years from 1960 to 2000. However, U.S. health spending reached an estimated 2.7 trillion dollars in 2010 and the health share of the gross domestic product is projecte...

The cost of medical care for the acromegalic patient.

Despite ample proof to the contrary, the overwhelming number of health care practitioners still believe that acromegaly is a disease that they will rarely encounter, let alone have to treat. However, the reality is quite a bit different for both doctors and patients. Many of the obvious symptoms and signs of this disease manifest slowly and insidiously. As such, the majority of patients are oft...

Cost containment and the standard of medical care.