Government More Effective Than Private Sector at Controlling Health Care Costs

For the past dozen years, Medicare and Medicaid have done a better job of controlling rising health care costs than private insurers.

Since 2016, according to a new report from the Urban Institute, private insurers’ costs per enrolled member have risen an average of 4.4 percent a year.  By contrast, Medicare costs have risen an average of 2.4 percent per enrollee and Medicaid costs have risen just 1.6 percent per enrollee.

The primary driver of Medicare cost increases has been prescription drug spending.  For Medicaid the primary driver has been physician services and administrative costs.  For private insurers, the main reason for increasing costs has been spending for hospital care.

Learn more about the differences in cost containment in these different sectors and the implications of those differences in the Urban Institute report “Slow Growth in Medicare and Medicaid Spending Per Enrollee Has Implications for Policy Debates.”