Posted on 04/30/2014 8:58:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Spending on health care grew an astounding 9.9% in the Bureau of Economic Analysis' advance estimate of first-quarter GDP.
It's the biggest percent change in health-care spending since 1980, when health-care spending jumped 10% in the third quarter. Analysts said it's primarily due to a consumption boost from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Adjusted for inflation, America is spending more on health care than ever before.
Personal consumption grew by 3.0%, about half of which was due to the growth in health-care spending, said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"If health-care spending had been unchanged, the headline GDP growth number would have been -1.0%," Shepherdson said.
A BEA representative said the uptick "reflects additional spending associated with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act."
The first-quarter advance estimate reflects spending from January through March, the first three months when millions of people who gained insurance by signing up on exchanges established by the law or by qualifying for Medicaid coverage under the program's expansion.
Jared Bernstein, the former chief economist to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, speculated that the growth was more likely associated with the Medicaid expansion at this point.
Sign-ups through the exchanges exploded in March, the last month of the first open enrollment period. Of the more than 8 million people who eventually enrolled in insurance plans, nearly half signed up in March or in a special two-week extended period in April. This means the uptick in health-care spending could be even bigger next quarter.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Ummm...when the personal costs go up by double digits for NO DIFERING SERVICES, yeah...you get “increased spending” on a product that cannot necessarily be deferred. This is not a “benefit” of zerocare; its caused BY zerocare.
Can’t wait to see how much the increase in spending on beef and pork will be reported...hell, bacon went up 25% in just a couple weeks....
I wonder what percentage of the health care spending growth was people getting procedures done before Obamacare limits kick in.
> “reflects additional spending associated with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.”
No it doesn’t, obviously, because there aren’t enough people PAYING even among the relatively FEW who have signed up to account for this. At best, go-nowhere make-work spending related to Zerocare might have moved some beans around, but that’s it, and obviously NOTHING like that figure.
Health care spending is going to rise, because the Baby Boom began circa 1946 (troops came home in 1945, their wives got pregnant, usually in that order), meaning that in 2011 they started to hit age 65. As we’ve been told for decades now, most of an American’s health care dollars are spent in the last couple of years of their lives. The demographic bulge of the Baby Boom is going to keep pushing up health care spending, restricted only by Obamacare’s Death Panels.
Thanks SeekAndFind.
Business Insider really needs to lose a few pounds before parading around in that skimpy cheerleader outfit.
After that even my insurance people do not know if they will still be in business.
Economists estimated Q1 GDP to be 1.2% with Obamacare, or 1% without it.
Actual q1 GDP: 0.1%
Why?
Because increased healthcare expenses reduced consumer spending.
....and the GOPe has a hand in this. They have been playing games with us.
s obviously unconstitutional, despite what the Extreme Court says.
The blogger over at usdailydeficit dot com has noted Medicaid is running +14% YOY through the first 3 months of 2014.
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