For those (like me) concerned about how
much health spending continues to increase after Obamacare, the second report
of third quarter Gross Domestic Product confirmed good news. Although GDP
growth was revised up $10 billion, only a scratch was due to health spending. It
is good to have a breather from the second quarter, which was dominated
by growth in health services spending.
Overall, real GPD increased 3.1 percent on
the quarter, while health services spending increased only 2.3 percent, and
contributed only 9 percent of real GDP growth. Growth in health services
spending was also in line with other services spending and personal consumption
expenditures (PCE). However, the annualized change in the health services price
index increased by 1.7 percent, lower than the price increase of 1.3 percent in
non-health GDP but less than the 2.8 percent price increase for non-health
services.
(See Table I below the fold.)
