Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 28, no. 5 (2009): 1294-1304 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.1294 © 2009 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Overview

Health Care Cost Growth Among The Privately Insured

M. Kate Bundorf, Anne Royalty and Laurence C. Baker

Controlling health care cost growth remains a high priority for policymakers and private decisionmakers, yet little is known about sources of this growth. We examined spending growth among the privately insured between 2001 and 2006, separating the contributions of price changes from those driven by consumption. Most spending growth was driven by outpatient services and pharmaceuticals, with growth in quantities explaining the entire growth in outpatient spending and about three-quarters of growth in spending on prescription drugs. Rising prices played a greater role in growth in spending for brand-name than for generic drugs. These findings can inform efforts to control private- sector spending.

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