Monterey, CA Health Care Spending Slows : More Efficient System Or Seniors Can't Afford To Go To The Doctor?

View From A Non-Profit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California Health care costs are a huge worry for seniors and the disabled.  Co-payments for many procedures and prescriptions have been rising.  If you are unfortunate to get cancer, some of the experimental drugs can be exorbitant.  Two new economic analyses found that health care spending growth rates are slowing, but at 3.9% it's still much higher than inflation and more than double the increase that was given to Social Security recipients last year.  This has caused some to worry that the spending slowdown is due in part to some seniors and low-income Americans simply not going to the doctor or picking up their prescriptions because they can't afford it.  Economists are now studying the data and trying to determine if the slowing growth (t was actually in the double digits for much of the 1980's and early 1990's) could be due to recent health care reforms and be a trend, or whether this is a short-term blip on the radar screen.  With health care spending now a whopping 17.9% of our nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), I hope the decline is a trend.  However, I do speak to many seniors who have curtailed medical spending during and after the recession, a sad situation.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.