Trends in Health Care Expenditures for Adults Ages 18-44: 2006 versus 1996. Statistical Brief No. 254

摘要

This Statistical Brief compares summary statistics on health care expenditures and expenditure distributions by type of service and source of payment for adults ages 1844 in 2006 relative to this age group in 1996. The estimates are derived from data collected in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household (MEPS-HC) and Medical Provider Components (MEPS-MPC) on the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. Health care expenses in MEPS represent payments to physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers for services reported by respondents to the MEPS-HC. Estimates for 1996 were adjusted to 2006 dollars based on the GDP Price Index to remove the impact of medical inflation between 1996 and 2006 on comparisons. All differences between estimates noted in the text are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better.