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Article: Growth in U.S. Health Care Spending Hit 37-Year Low in '96; 4.4 Percent Rise Was Less Than GDP Gain, but Analysts Say Costs Are Accelerating
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 13, 1998
- Author:
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Growth in the nation's health care spending reached a 37-year
low in 1996 amid the spread of managed care, according to a federal
study released yesterday.
Nonetheless, economists and health care analysts found little
cause for celebration, saying that the 1996 figures are already
outdated and that health care spending is again accelerating.
"All experience suggests that. . . . we haven't slayed the
health cost monster and that it will return," said Drew Altman,
president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which sponsors
research on health care.
The aging of the nation's population, the advent of costly new
medical technologies and diminishing returns from the managed-care ...