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Big surprise! Massachusetts healthcare costs outpace the nation!

Here is another current piece that describes Massachusetts’ out of control healthcare costs resulting from their five year old reform. Estimates are that MA costs are now (accumulated) more than 25% over the national average. Good perspective for considering the 2014 full implementation of Federal Health reform. Here it comes! For those of you who really want to show your plan sponsors what is coming, take a look at the scary report that I’ve attached from Massachusetts that highlights many of the items described in the short article below. Jeff

Conclusion

Health care spending continues to outpace inflation, wage growth, and other measures of economic

growth in Massachusetts. As demonstrated in this report, the significance of price in driving higher

spending for privately insured health care warrants serious consideration as strategies to reduce

health care cost growth are crafted and implemented.

Mass. health care costs outpace nation

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By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff

The latest findings from Governor Deval Patrick’s administration on health care costs confirms that Massachusetts stands out, and not in a good way.

Spending on medical care for privately insured residents climbed 6 percent from 2007 to 2008 and another 10 percent from 2008 to 2009. That far outpaced national growth, which was 4.9 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, in those years.

For privately insured patients, rising provider prices for inpatient and outpatient hospital care and for physicians’ services played a significant role in rising costs, a much bigger role than increased use of services in Massachusetts, according to the report by the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy.

Higher prices, for example, accounted for nearly all of the increase in inpatient hospital spending from 2007 to 2009. And for all types of imaging, higher payments for scans and other tests — not greater use of those services — drove much or all of the growth in spending.

The administration is required by law to conduct an annual study of health care cost trends. These findings will be discussed in detail over four days of hearings starting on June 27 at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston.

Liz Kowalczyk can be reached at kowalczyk@globe.com