Major Trends in the U.S. Health Economy since 1950

As the United States struggles to emerge from an economic crisis, policymakers and the public have homed in on skyrocketing health care expenditures. What lessons can be drawn from the evolution, since 1950, in sources of payment and objects of expenditures in health care? Rapid advances in medical science and technology, substantial gains in health outcomes attributable to medical care, and budget-busting increases in health care expenditures fueled by private and public insurance have marked the past six decades of health care in the United States. As the country struggles to emerge from a multiyear financial and economic crisis, policymakers and the public have increasingly homed in on those skyrocketing health care expenditures. What lessons can be drawn from the evolution, since 1950, in the sources of payment and objects of expenditures in the health care arena? Health Expenditures The rapid growth of health . . .