Trend: Medical prices set to jump again

While medical prices fell for the fourth consecutive year in 2007, observers say that health costs likely will shoot up again, soon. According to an article in the journal Health Affairs by author Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change, there are several factors contributing to the coming jump in prices, including a hospital's need to cover the cost of their tremendous recent investments in new buildings; the growth in physician ownership of ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics, which Ginsburg says has historically driven up prices; and a shift in the overall U.S. economic cycle. Such price increases could drastically hike health insurance premiums. Even with health cost increases having been moderate over the last few years, health insurance premiums still have risen 78 percent since 2001.

To learn more about this trend:
- read this article from The Oregonian

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