The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #74235

Charles I. Jones, PhD, Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3880, 510-643-1564, chad@econ.berkeley.edu

Aggregate health expenditure as a share of GDP has risen in the United States from about 5 percent in 1960 to nearly 14 percent in recent years. Why? This presentation explores a simple explanation based on technological progress. Medical advances allow us to cure diseases today which, in the past, could not be cured at any cost. Combining this technological progress with a transfer program like Medicare to pay the health expenses of the elderly gives a model which can reproduce the basic facts of recent US experience with health expenditures.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of this presentation the participant will understand the roles of technological progress and programs like Medicare in determining the large increase in health expenditure as a share of GDP since 1960.

Keywords: Access to Care, Healthcare Costs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.