business
Medical inflation continues to outpace price growth
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 24, 2011
Inflation in the economy as a whole was soft in 2010 compared with 2009, but growth in the amount of money paid for medical care continued to grow at a faster clip than prices overall, according to the monthly report on the consumer price index released Jan. 14 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The consumer price index grew by 1.5% in 2010 but by 2.7% in 2009. The BLS said most of this change was due to a slowing in growth of the price of gasoline.
But growth in the cost of medical care played a role. The price of medical care increased 3.3% in 2010 and 3.4% in 2009.
Prices paid for professional services, a category that includes physicians, went up 2.7% in 2010 and 2.5% in 2009. Expenses related to hospital care grew by 6.7% in 2010, but 7.1% in 2009.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/01/24/bibf0124.htm.
