Posting date: June 9, 2004

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Health Affairs, 10.1377/hlthaff.w4.354
Copyright © 2004 by Project HOPE

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Trends: Tracking Health Care Costs: Trends Turn Downward In 2003

¹ Bradley Strunk is a health research analyst at the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C.
² Paul Ginsburg is the center's president.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Health care spending per privately insured person increased 7.4 percent in 2003. While lower than the 2002 increase, it still outpaced growth in the overall economy by a margin that exceeds the historical average. The trend for drug spending decelerated the most. Meanwhile, hospital spending grew 9 percent in 2003--1.8 percentage points less than the 2002 increase. This reflected a sharp deceleration in growth of hospital use, while growth in hospital prices accelerated for the sixth year in a row. The trend for health insurance premiums fell in 2004. Employers raised patient cost sharing for the third year in a row.

Key Words: Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Health Spending

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