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Study Links Rise in Health Care Costs to Job Losses
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Contributor | RP |
Last Edited | RP Jul 23, 2009 12:09pm |
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Category | Study |
Author | Cathy Arnst |
News Date | Thursday, July 23, 2009 06:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
Description | In a first-of-its-kind study, the non-profit Rand Corp linked the rapid growth in U.S. health care costs to job losses and lower output. The study, published online by the journal Health Services Research, gives weight to President Barack Obama’s dire warnings about the impact of rising costs if Congress does not enact health care reform.
The rate of growth in U.S. health care costs has outpaced the growth rate in the gross domestic product (GDP) for many years. In 1940, the share of GDP accounted for by health care spending was just 4.5%. By 1990, it had reached 12.2%, and 16% in 2005, when health care spending totaled nearly $2 trillion, or $6,697 per person, far more than any other nation. This year health care spending is on track to equal 18% of GDP. |
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