About Liz Seegert
Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.
Per capita health care costs for people age 65 and older grew by just 4.1 percent for 2002-10, the lowest among any age groups for that period, according to a new report by CMS’s Office of the Actuary. The report, published in the current issue of Health Affairs, examines aggregate and per-capita health spending by gender and major age groups. (Note: AHCJ members get free access to Health Affairs.)
In comparison, spending for children grew at the fastest rate (5.5 percent) and per person spending for individuals aged 19–64 increased 5.2 percent annually.
Estimates of health spending by age and gender consist of all the medical goods and services used to treat or prevent a specific disease or condition in a specific person – including hospital care, physician and clinical services, retail prescription drugs, and the programs and payers for that care, such as private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid. Continue reading →
Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.