U.S. spending on health care surged 4.6 percent in 2011, breaking a two-year trend of smaller increases, the Health Care Cost Institute said this week. Experts believe the reason behind the increase was not Americans seeking more treatment but a rapid growth in the price of medical care. Average spending by people with employer-sponsored insurance rose to $4,547 in 2011, compared with $4,349 in 2010, suggesting that the recent downturn in health-care spending may have been a temporary side effect of the recession. “We don’t know yet whether this is a one-off year aberration or a resumption of patterns of higher growth,” said the institute’s director, David Newman.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
July 6 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include paying for school lunch by enlisting, and the banality of evil
-
5 biting editorial cartoons about 'Alligator Alcatraz'Cartoons Artists take on dangerous green things, historical precedent, and more
-
A journey into the deep past on beautiful ArranThe Week Recommends New Unesco Global Geopark played a 'key role' in the birth of modern geological science
