At 2:14 PM 3/7/5, Jones Beene wrote: >Horace, > >> In the US the cost of litigation and medical care also >push inflation, as >> will the falling dollar due to debt financing and trade >deficits. > > >I was surprised to find out, when you do the breakdown, that >the major cost component (except for new expensive drugs) of >increased medical is "general inflation" i.e. the effects of >oil pushing everything else up. And it is hard to eliminate >the "demand" issue of consumerism i.e. when the average >person demands more than is necessary (cosmetic surgery, for >instance) the cost of which pushes everything else up. > > >http://healthcare.pwc.com/cgi-local/hcregister.cgi?link=pdf/fuel.pdf. >
The above article appears to support *my* position. It says only 13.7 percent of the increase in medical costs is attributable to inflation. That means medical costs increased 86.3 percent over and above inflation. Medical costs are a major contributor to inflation. The article states that in 1980 medical costs consumed 8.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). In 2000 it consumed 13.2 percent. That is a powerful relative growth, which is not inflation biased. It also states damages due to malpractice are "skyrocketing." Although litigation is only responsible for about 7 percent of the increase in cost, it is growing rapidly. The article stated that the median malpractice award grew 43 percent in 2000 alone. In the 1960's I never had any problem obtaining health insurance, or gave it much thought. Today, it is difficult for most young people to obtain any at all, or to afford it if available. When you add in nursing home insurance costs, which are out of sight, audio, visual, and dental insurance, and the cost of medical riders on auto insurance, medical care is a major expense for many families today even if they are well. Regards, Horace Heffner
