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Article: Prescription Drugs Continue To Drive Health Spending.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition
- Article date:
- April 9, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Summit Business Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Prescription drugs drove health care spending in 1999, accounting for 9.4% of $1.2 trillion in total spending for all health care, according to a report by the Health Care Financing Administration, the federal agency that manages Medicare and Medicaid.
Total spending for 1999 was up 5.6% from 1998, but continued a six-year growth rate below 6%, HCFA says.
Prescription drugs, with a 16.9% cost increase in 1999, continued to lead all other health care services in spending growth.
The HCFA report, published in the March-April issue of Health Affairs, by Project Hope, Bethesda, Md., says that between 1993 and 1999 health spending nationally averaged ...