Some of what you say is correct but it is not 100%.
The NUMBER ONE reason that health insurance is going up is the american people are obese and in very poor health Period. 15 years ago on a group of 10 employees you had 2 that were unhealthy. Today 8 are sick and 2 are healthy. People are living longer but they are living with the diabetes etc.
The cases of diabetes, HBP, stomach acid reflex(caused by weight) and sleep apnea is unbeleievable. I also see a ton of knee/hip replacements today caused by weight especially in people 40-60 years old. I never used to see this 20 years ago.
New equipment/treatment type of stuff come in a close second for cost. I don't like lawyers but actually from what I've read med malpractice is down on the list of what is causing prices to go up. I'm not discounting these though. They are big problems but they are not number one. Utilization is.
Yes there are more medical treatments today but years ago the health insurance probably actually covered more. For instance I remember 25 years ago people would stay 7-8 days in the hospital for something like a gall bladder surgery. Today they are out in 2 days. Heart bypasses are now out in a few days when I remember people used to stay 2 weeks in the hospital after their surgery. Some of it is caused by new treatments but most is caused by insuranace companies forcing the people out of the beds. Outpatient is more common today and peoplea reoun several hours after the procedure when tey used to spend 1-2 in the hospital.
Medical billing cost is down from what I've heard. I have a group of docs that used to employee 4 women for insurance billing in their practice. Today they have none for that purpose because just about most practices today use an outside billing source. That same doctors office has one person they deal with at the billing source and it is all computerized today and there is no longer a paper trail.Also in my area 25 years ago there was probably 15-20 active insurance carriers. Today there is 5-6 so there is less to contend with.
I agree what you are saying in your last paragraph about medical cost but they have been coming down in a way. One reason is the insurance companies are not paying doctors as much. That is why the docs are screaming so much. Most docs are under PPO's or HMO's today and are only paid a minimal amount. Those amounts have been cut back or if they are raised not keeping up with cost. I twisted my ankle last year and the doc billed out $78 for the x-ray and they were paid $24.00 which they have to contracturally accept from the insurance company. I remember 20 years ago x-rays were $75-100 and insurance companies paid that amount.
The number one reason heath insurance is going up is the demand has increased exponentially since the government started subsidizing it. Period.
In other words, the inflationary aspects of a product or service must be based on a unit cost, not an overall cost. In the context of the examples you cite in medical care, the only way to accuretely assess inflationary trends is to look at the specific costs associated with those treatments and not the overall cost of insuring people. How much does a hip replacement cost today vs. in 1970? How about treatments for high blood pressure, or diabetes? If we're using these things more frequently today than in 1970, then we should expect to see health care expenditures rise.