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Tribbulations.(health spending)
FOR my money, the best of all the original Star Trek episodes was "The Trouble with Tribbles." In that epic show, Lieutenant Uhura brings a delightful little ball of fur called a "tribble" back to the USS Enterprise. The tribbles purr and cuddle, and the crew of the Enterprise fall in love. There is only one problem. The creatures, as Dr. McCoy notices halfway through the show, are "born pregnant." If you let something double repeatedly, then the numbers get large very quickly. Near the end of the show, the Enterprise is stuffed with millions of tribbles.
If you want to understand the economics of health spending, then you need to think tribbles. Spending on health care takes up about double the share of GDP that it took 30 years ago. According to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office, that spending will continue to grow at a remarkable pace, taking up half of GDP by 2082. While that happens, spending by Medicare and Medicaid will climb from where it is today, about 4 percent of GDP, to almost 20 percent. At that point, Medicare and Medicaid will demand about the same share of GDP that the entire federal government takes today.
For some time, the story that has defined the popular discussion of this problem is that the phenomenon is inevitable given the "aging of the baby boomers." Afascinating recent report by the CBO exposes this view as an urban myth. In that report, the staff breaks the increase down between two factors, demographics and excess cost ...
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- Magazine article from: National Tax Journal Follette, Glenn Sheiner, Louise September 1, 2005 700+ words
...investment needed to produce GDP or ever increasing net...accompany increases in health spending. The paper is organized...will exceed per capita GDP growth by 1 percentage...with the Trustees' GDP projection, taking...the distribution of health spending by quintile among ...
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- Magazine article from: Clinical Psychiatry News Ault, Alicia June 1, 2009 700+ words
...Meanwhile, the health care share of GDP is expected to grow 1.4...annual jump as a portion of GDP since economists first started...who is an actuary with CMS. Health spending will account for 17.6% of the GDP in 2009, according to the report...
- Health spending passes $100 billion.
- Press release article from: M2 Presswire September 30, 2009 700+ words
...2007, Australia's health spending as a proportion of GDP was similar to Italy...less than the USA where health spending accounted for 16% of GDP. The report examines Australia's health spending from 1997-98 to 2007...
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- Newspaper article from: Sunday Mirror (London, England) Rimmer, Alan January 16, 2000 700+ words
...reason for complacency on health spending. While the UK emerges...6.7 per cent of GDP BRITAIN has struggled...9.9 per cent of GDP TO date there have been...are ranked in order of health spending per person. The index...expenditure as percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product...
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- Magazine article from: Business Economics Baicker, Katherine April 1, 2006 700+ words
...increasing costs of health care. Health expenditures as a fraction of GDP are projected to rise dramatically from 16 percent of GDP now to 20 percent of GDP in 2015. With health spending exerting growing pressure on both public and private budgets...
- In Smallest Rise Since '86, Health Spending Was Up 7.8% in '93
- Newspaper article from: The Washington Post Spencer Rich November 23, 1994 700+ words
...while the growth of health spending slowed from 8...domestic product (GDP). However, Mike...cost controls for health spending, took a more optimistic...Slow growth in health spending appears to result...the growth of the GDP, she said, and...
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- Newspaper article from: Sunday Star-Times HUNTER Tim August 23, 2009 700+ words
...Public-sector health spending is about $11...further $8b, meaning health spending is equivalent to about 9% of GDP. Over the last...continue the growth in health spending set out by the previous...spending as % of GDP United States16...
- Health spending $94 billion, growth keeps pace with economy.
- Press release article from: M2 Presswire September 25, 2008 700+ words
...countries, Australia's health spending as a proportion of GDP, was similar to Italy, New...than the United States, where health spending is substantially higher than for all other nations at 15% of GDP. Almost 70% of health expenditure...