Americans become much Healthier when medical cost are not being paid by and subsidized by Tax Payers.
Health care cost has almost stopped the run away cost rises of the 2000 – 2010 years. Spending edged up 3.9 percent, bringing the total size of the U.S. healthcare system to $2.6 trillion, or $8,402 per person, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Growth in 2010 was only 0.1 percentage point higher than the 3.8 percent recorded in 2009, {I’ll bet your wages did not increase 3.9 percent last year!} which was the lowest rate recorded in half a century. Per capita health spending in the United States is still the highest worldwide.
“It’s absolutely clear what’s going on,” said William Galston of the Brookings Institution. “People’s budgets have been hard hit, and even if they have 20 percent co-pays from their insurance companies, that 20 percent may still be too much.” The data are likely to play prominently in the political debate over U.S. government spending as President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law approaches challenges from the Supreme Court and he fights for reelection in 2012.
The healthcare industry’s eats up 17.9 percent of the U.S. economy. In 2010, the net cost of health insurance which includes the overhead and insurance company profits increased by a huge 8.4 percent.
Federal spending in dollar terms rose as a result of the Obama administration’s efforts to help cash strapped state governments by paying a greater share of Medicaid, which saw enrollment rise. The rate of spending growth slowed for both Medicaid and Medicare as Medicaid enrollment decelerated from recession levels and fewer senior citizens signed up for Medicare Advantage, which allows the elderly to purchase private insurance through Medicare.
Medicaid spent $401 billion, an increase of 7.2 percent. Medicare program costs grew 5 percent to $525 billion.
