Health Care Spending Remains Stable, But Experts Predict Premiums Will Double by 2007

OPEN MINDS, The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Industry News Health care spending was relatively stable last year, with the national bill growing by less than 5% for the third consecutive year, says an Associated Press report. The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) reported that the growth of managed care in the private sector has kept health care spending increases low since the mid-1990s. Now cost controls in Medicare are beginning to slow the pace of growth in that program, bringing the increase in 1997 to 4.8%. Health care spending in 1997 totaled $1.1 trillion . . .