Government
Where medical money goes
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted Feb. 13, 2006
| The private insurance health care dollar | |
|---|---|
| Physician services | 31 cents |
| Hospital services | 29 cents |
| Prescription drugs | 14 cents |
| Administration | 14 cents |
| Dental services | 6 cents |
| Other professional services | 3 cents |
| Nursing home and home health services | 2 cents |
| Durable medical products | 1 cent |
| 1 dollar | |
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Assn. recently released its annual Medical Cost Reference Guide (link) to inform government and private-sector policymakers on factors driving health care prices.
The largest piece of the private insurance health care dollar continues to go toward physician services. But ...
... the annual rate of growth in private spending per capita has been higher for hospital outpatient services and prescription drugs than for physician services.
| Annual growth in private spending per capita | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital inpatient | Hospital outpatient | Physician services | Prescription drugs | |
| 1994 | -2.3% | 8.0% | 2.1% | 5.1% |
| 1995 | -3.7% | 7.0% | 2.6% | 10.7% |
| 1996 | -4.6% | 7.0% | 2.2% | 10.8% |
| 1997 | -5.4% | 8.9% | 4.1% | 11.4% |
| 1998 | 0.0% | 7.7% | 5.6% | 13.6% |
| 1999 | 2.6% | 11.6% | 6.7% | 18.1% |
| 2000 | 4.0% | 9.8% | 7.7% | 14.2% |
| 2001 | 8.6% | 14.5% | 7.8% | 13.5% |
| 2002 | 8.2% | 13.0% | 7.9% | 13.1% |
| 2003 | 6.1% | 11.1% | 6.4% | 8.9% |
| 2004 | 6.2% | 11.3% | 6.4% | 7.2% |
Source: Blue Cross Blue Shield Assn.'s annual Medical Cost Reference Guide
Copyright © 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
