The average per-capita costs of healthcare services covered by commercial insurance and Medicare programs increased by 6.06 percent over the year ending Dec. 2010, according to a Standard & Poor’s news release.
The S&P Healthcare Economic Composite Index found healthcare costs covered by commercial insurance rose by 7.75 percent in the year ending Dec. 2010, according to the release. Medicare claim costs associated with hospital and professional services for patients covered under Medicare increased at a more modest 3.27 percent rate over the year, as measured by the S&P Healthcare Economic Medicare Index.
“The December year-end report shows that the trend of slowing annual growth rates in healthcare costs that started in early/mid-2010 continued through the end of 2010,” David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P, said in the release.
Read the S&P release on the S&P Healthcare Economic Composite Index.
Read more about healthcare costs:
– Hospitals to Get Less Medicaid Funding Under President’s Budget
– Milliman Index: Healthcare Costs for Family of Four Up $1,303 in 2010
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