United States Hospital Costs in International Perspective

Abstract

From 1965 to 1970, hospital costs in the United States increased sharply—f rom $14.1 billion to $25.6 billion, at an annual rate of 16 percent. Official projections forecast a further fourfold rise over the next ten years. Comparing these staggering increases with hospital costs in England, Sweden, and Western Germany, a steeply rising trend is noted in gen eral. An explanation has to be sought not only in the particular circumstances in the United States but in generic forces such as a rapidly growing demand for hospital care—especially from the larger numbers of elderly in all developed countries—and substantial increases in staff remuneration, the main component of hospital costs. This similarity of trends cannot hide, how ever, the fact that daily hospital charges in the United States are by far the highest in the countries investigated. "Don't get sick in America!" seems a justified warning. A reform will have to balance the conflicting interests of hospital administra tions, staffs, patients, insured, and taxpayers—a dilemma whose acceptable solution has so far eluded most Western nations.