I mentioned in yesterday’s post on the CPI report that health care prices as reported by BLS are just wrong. That prompted me to go to the Altarum series of reports on national health spending and health prices. For the 12 months through May 2024, national health spending increased by 7.7% and personal health care spending–the spending on the medical care we receive rose even faster at 8.3%. That is very high growth in the post-pandemic era. The price component of this increase was 3.3 percentage points, and utilization rose five percentage points. Price rises in medical care are higher than those for the economy overall and are much higher than the BLS calculates. (Altarum Reports)
I have also reviewed several reports relating to health insurance premium ncreases for 2024 and 2025. Combined across both years premiums are increasing over 10%, with a larger increase coming in 2025. In addition, to premium increases, cost-sharing amounts and premium contributions will go up for those in employer-sponsored or other group plans. These are signficant costs for consumers, and the BLS calculation severely under-calculates the impact.
