Report: 5 Percent of People Account for Half of U.S. Health Care Spending

[WhiteTara]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/healthcare/report-5-percent-of-people-account-for-half-of-u-s-health-care-spending-20110627?mrefid=mostViewed

About 5 percent of the population is responsible for almost half of all health care spending in the United States and for rising premium rates, according to a new report from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.

U.S. health care spending has sharply increased over the past few years. Between 2005 and 2009, national health care spending rose by 23 percent from $2 billion to $2.5 billion, according to the NIHCM Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on health care. A foundation report that reviewed the 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey found health care spending was concentrated among a small group of high-cost patients.

The report stated about half of the U.S. population accounted for only 3.1 percent of all expenditures. But 10 percent of the population hogged 63.6 percent of all health spending, the survey found. The top 5 percent of the population accounted for 47.5 percent of all spending, and the top 1 percent accounted for 20.2 percent.

snip

Adults 55 and over made up a larger proportion of the high-spending group, while those in the lower spending group tended to be younger. The report also found that people with at least one chronic health condition were two to four times more likely to have spending in the top 5 percent group.


So, I guess we should kill everyone over 55...oh noes! I'm dead!

[One_Life_To_Give]

1. Thats why it's called Insurance

Relatively few people are responsible for the majority of House Fire Claims, Car accidents etc.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. This needs to be broken down by INCOME.

Who doubts that the bulk of health care spending will be by people who can most afford it, regardless of age?

Maybe then we can discuss the choice of that word "hogged".

[WhiteTara]

3. I found that word pretty offensive too.

[frazzled]

4. We're talking serious disability and illness here

First of all, it's not the same 5% of people consistently spending more here: we're talking people who become seriously ill: gun-shot victims like Gabrielle Giffords--who probably never spent much on health care before but suddenly got shot in the head and had multiple surgeries, rehab, specialized care and long-term hospitalization for a significant period.

Someone in Stage 4 cancer is going to run up a huge bill. And then they're going to die. Don't call someone like that a "hog." Or take the son of friends of mine: who sustained a tragic and massive brain injury in a fire. He was hospitalized for nine months and faces probably life in nursing care.

These are the 5% we're talking about: the person who needs quadruple bypass surgery, the accident victim, the advanced cancer patient.

I can testify to this myself. We have spent next to nothing on health care for more than 40 years, maintaining good insurance all along. We're healthy, but aging and starting to have to see the doctor more often. Then last year my spouse had a bad year for health costs: a bicycle accident that involved 3-4 months of doctors, surgery, and rehab. Then six months later a hernia surgery. I wouldn't say we'd be in the top 5% that particular year, but it was a big spike in health costs during a particular time.

That's how insurance works. Most of the time, you're not going to need it for the big stuff. Then boom: sometimes for the long-term, sometimes for a few months or a year.

[izquierdista]

5. I wish it worked the other way

That in order to get rich, to have more wealth than 95% of the people, you had to have diabetes, emphysema, vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, migraines, erectile dysfunction, acid reflux, more migraines, vomiting, diarrhea, psoriasis, and bad breath. Then maybe people wouldn't be so greedy.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. OMG! How shocking! People with 'chronic health conditions' spend money on health care!

[Donnachaidh]

7. Another report to turn people against the defenseless

Fucking sickening how this is becoming the norm in this country.

[LeftishBrit]

8. 10 per cent 'hogged' 63% of health spending?

Because being ill is some sort of special privilege for which some people are greedy?

And our health secretary Lansley would like to take us down the American route...

[spooky3]

9. and if we paid the same prescription prices as Germany, Canada, etc.,

what would the picture look like?

[mzmolly]

10. The same could be said about car accidents,

or house fires or... Insurance is about spreading cost and risk.

[Liberal Veteran]

11. I have no doubt that I am in the 5 percentile.

And 99 percent of that is on medication alone.

[kiranon]

12. Sounds like a statistical attack on the aged. Unless someone invents

a way for no one to grow old, older folks will generally use more medical resources. Is this study suggesting that people not be allowed to grow old? It sounds as if one is to have medical care until one gets sick and then it will be removed. I have two special needs children and their medicine is what is costing us a fortune. One prescription costs $1,200 each time we refill it. Why did Congress/President/AARP support a bill that disallowed the government's right to negotiate drug costs. What a crazy idea that was for ordinary Americans. Imagine a lot of politicians coffers were filled with drug company donations for their support of the no negotiation of drug price position.