Perhaps healthcare spending is picking up again, data released Wednesday March 4, 2015, by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates.
Spending on hospitals, doctors and other providers in 2014 appears to have outpaced the slow growth rates of the past few years, according to the bureau. Healthcare spending grew at a 5.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter unadjusted for inflation or seasonal differences—a sizable difference from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s most recent estimate of 3.9% but very close to actuarial predictions from September.
The Commerce Department will revise its fourth-quarter numbers one more time, and so they could end up closer to the Census Bureau’s figures as the government incorporates more spending data.
Last year was the first full year in which millions of Americans bought health insurance through exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. The rising ranks of the insured have led many economists to predict health spending will eventually climb higher than the sluggish growth rates of the past several years. Health spending rose 3.6% in 2013, the fifth straight year of growth below 4%.
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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150311/NEWS/150319978.
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