Health Spending By State And Local Government Workers Has Increased One Fifth More Than Medicaid Spending

In a previous post I reported that health benefits for government workers cost 40 percent more than benefits for private-sector workers. This extra cost imposes a significant burden on taxpayers. Researchers at the Pew Charitable Trusts have now answered another, related question: How does spending on health benefits for state and local government workers compare with spending on Medicaid?

In a recent report, the researchers conclude that state and local spending on government workers increased by 444 percent in real, inflation-adjusted terms from 1987 through 2012. Spending on Medicaid grew by 375 percent.

That is, spending on government workers increased almost 20 percent more than spending on Medicaid.

Read the entire column at John Goodman's Health Policy Blog or The Independent Institute's Beacon blog.