Healthcare Inflation by the Numbers

By Taylor Marvin

Sarah Kliff has a link to a striking new graphic illustrating the extent of health care inflation in the last 65 years:

Pretty shocking, right? However, this isn’t an entirely fair comparison. Milk available in 1945 is fundamentally the same product as what’s sold today. Healthcare quality, however, has dramatically improved in the same period — for example, cancer survivorship has significantly risen in this period. Healthcare cost inflation is a major challenge to US government long-term fiscal sustainability, but it’s also important to remember that these cost increases have bought significant outcome gains.