While the price of groceries, energy and other goods and services have surged alongside record-high inflation this year, the healthcare sector has been mostly immune to immediate price increases. That immunity is starting to wane, industry experts say.
Overall U.S. consumer prices climbed 8.5% in July from a year prior as the consumer price index hit a four-decade high, but medical care expenses increased just 4.8% in the same period, according to a tracker from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Peterson Center.
That’s due to the unique way the industry operates, as hospitals and doctors provide care then get reimbursed from insurers. Payers set rates prospectively, meaning it will take years for high inflation to be fully reflected in healthcare costs.
Still, that expected lag already is strapping providers financially with heightened expenses they’re not yet able to recoup, Healthcare Dive reports. Read more.
