May 15, 2025 The WHO released its World Health Report 2025 on May 15, 2025. According to the WHO: "An estimated 1.4 billion more people were living healthier by the end of 2024, surpassing the 1 billion target. The progress in healthier lives was driven by reduction in tobacco use, improved air quality and better access to water, hygiene, and sanitation. But progress towards increased coverage of essential health services and protection from emergencies lagged; only 431 million more people gained access to essential health services without financial hardship, and close to 637 million more people were better protected from…
US Healthcare Spending Hits $4.9 Trillion
December 18, 2024 US healthcare spending continues to grow. According to an article in the journal Health Affairs (Anne B. Martin, Micah Hartman, Benjamin Washington, Aaron Catlin, and The National Health Expenditure Accounts Team, National Health Expenditures In 2023: Faster Growth As Insurance Coverage And Utilization Increased, Health Affairs (2024), doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01375):"National health care spending reached $4.9 trillion in 2023 (or $14,570 per person), increasing 7.5 percent from 2022 (exhibit 1). This rate of growth was faster than in 2021 and 2022, when health care spending increased 4.2 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. The lower growth during 2021 and 2022 was affected by the expiration of temporary federal funding…
Baker Institute Report Examines Hospital Prices, Costs, and Profits
Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy has issued a new report on hospital finances. The report, entitled Prices Versus Costs: Unpacking Rising US Hospital Profits, compares "the commercial operating costs, net patient revenue from commercial patients, and commercial operating profits of hospitals with different price levels to examine if higher prices are charged to cover higher costs, or instead to generate higher profits."They concluded:"We find that belonging to the highest inpatient price quartile is associated with 17% higher costs per adjusted discharge and 36% higher commercial revenue per adjusted discharge. These differences result in a 69% higher commercial operating…
US Healthcare Spending in 2022: $4.5 Trillion
January 2, 2024 According to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (accessed January 2, 2024): "US health care spending grew 4.1 percent to reach $4.5 trillion in 2022, faster than the increase of 3.2 percent in 2021 but much slower than the rate of 10.6 percent in 2020. The growth in 2022 reflected strong growth in Medicaid and private health insurance spending that was somewhat offset by continued declines in supplemental funding by the federal government associated with the COVID-19 pandemic."In a related article published in the journal Health Affairs ("National Health Expenditure Accounts Team. National Health Care…
The Existential Threat of Greed in US Health Care
February 7, 2023 The journal JAMA published a Viewpoint on Jan. 30, 2023 by Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, entitled Salve Lucrum: The Existential Threat of Greed in US Health Care.In it, Dr. Berwick contends:"Profit may have its place in motivating innovation and higher quality in health care, as in any industry. But kleptocapitalist behaviors that raise prices, salaries, market power, and government payment to extreme levels hurt patients and families, vulnerable institutions, governmental programs, small and large businesses, and workforce morale. Those behaviors, mostly legal but nonetheless wrong, have now accumulated to a level that poses an existential threat to…
Massive Savings Possible In US Health System
October 21, 2021 The management consulting firm McKinsey & Company has issued a new report estimating that administrative changes and efficiencies could save the US health system more than a quarter trillion dollars.As noted in a Viewpoint article published in JAMA on October 20: "The analysis dissected profit and loss statements of individual health care organizations, estimated spending on specific processes, and compared administrative spending in health care with that of other industries. The conclusion of the report is that an estimated $265 billion, or approximately 28% of annual administrative spending, could be saved without compromising quality or access by…