Given that the US spends over 17% of its GDP on healthcare
(twice the level seen in countries such as UK and Japan), any slowdown in cost
increases is a welcome development. However, the recent disinflation may be
short-lived. A recent WSJ considers issues related to healthcare costs:
According to the WSJ piece:
“"This and more
recent data are pretty profound. What it says is that even as the economy is
rebounding, health spending is not," said David Cutler, a Harvard
University health economist and former adviser to the Obama administration.
"It looks less and less like a hangover from a recession and more like a
change in the nature of the health-care system."
Others say the slower
growth is unlikely to last as the economic recovery continues and new
patent-protected drugs come on the market.
"You kind of see
things are picking up and 2012 may be the last good year," said Jonathan
Skinner, a Dartmouth College economics professor who co-wrote a recent paper
suggesting the lull likely won't be long-lived.”
UPDATE (1/9):
UPDATE (1/9):
Rising cost of new drug discovery - scientific explanations