The U.S. Commerce Department later this week will take a swing at estimating last quarter's economic growth, including spending for services from hospitals and doctors.
Final estimates for the second quarter won't be published for another month, but the figures to be released Aug. 27 offer the latest snapshot from Commerce officials of how the economy and healthcare spending fared in April, May and June.
During the first three months of the year, spending growth for healthcare services soared to 6.2% from the same quarter a year ago. That estimate did not include spending for prescription drugs. A preliminary Commerce Department estimate for the second quarter, released July 30, showed health service spending grew 5.5%.
Federal economists said last month that national health spending, including services, drugs, research and public health, was projected to grow 5.3% in 2015. That would mean more moderate spending growth in the last six months of the year, according to experts with the Altarum Institute Center for Sustainable Health Spending.
Why? One reason may be that initial demand for healthcare services among the uninsured who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act since 2014 has been met. “We're counting on a lot of the newly insured to have gotten unmet needs satisfied,” said Paul Hughes-Cromwick, a senior health economist with Altarum.
The center's analysis of health spending through June, published this month, suggests some moderation this year that “will continue through the second half of the year.”
