Medicare spending growth slowing

In news that appears to buck the public’s understanding of health-care trends, S&P’s Healthcare Economic Indices reports that the increase in per-capita Medicare costs has slowed. The report revealed that the growth in per-patient Medicare revenue–the revenue that Medicare generates for health-care providers–has slowed to 2.5 percent. That’s the slowest rate since S&P Indices started keeping records six years ago. Private insurance companies also saw a drop in their growth rate, although by not as much.

The disparity between Medicare and private health insurance growth rates is not surprising; the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has shown that to be the case for decades. However, lately, the divergence has become more marked.