Posted on 05/16/2016 9:57:27 AM PDT by lowbridge
The largest increase in consumer spending since gas prices have dropped, according to Markowska, has been on healthcare.
"In nominal terms, household spending on healthcare averaged 3.9% between 2010 and 2013," wrote Markowska in a note to clients Thursday.
"It began to accelerate in the first half of 2014 and has averaged at 5.2% since then. Importantly, this pickup in healthcare spending was not driven by higher costs; real spending in this category accelerated from 1.9% in 2010-2013 to 3.9% thereafter."
This would indicate that Americans have been not only been spending more because of increased costs, but also intentionally allocating more of their wallet to the sector.
To match the increased spending, the healthcare sector's labor market has also been booming.
"Employment data also corroborates this: as shown in chart 3, the healthcare sector produced about 240,000 jobs per year between 2010 and mid-2014," said the note. "Since then, it has averaged at 354,000/year and the sector is currently producing about 500,000 jobs annualized."
-snip
Now there are a few reasons for the increase, the most notable of which is the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Markowska notes that the growth in real spending closely matches the 4% increase in the number of Americans with health insurance since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2012.
Part of the increased spending no doubt has to do with the number of people spending more on insurance who did not have it before, but also higher spending on drug prescriptions.
This increased consumer spending and labor availability is a net positive for the economy, according to Markowska.
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
It must be pretty bad when increased health care costs(and unmentioned lower quality) is the best they’ve got!!! LOL for sure.
Free healthcare.
The new standard for health care in the US.
I had a visit to the ER last year. Obamacare insurance payed NOTHING OF IT since it was less than the deductible. Many are finding out Obamacare is far WORSE than what we had before. I'm paying far more and getting NOTHING FOR IT.
Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders need to be told. Not NO but H.... No!
And broken windows are good for the glazier.
So let’s stimulate the economy by turning a bunch of feral thugs loose. Sort of like what was done on the health care industry.
Heck, based on that reasoning, the riots in Baltimore and Ferguson were good for their economies. Look at the all rebuilding and construction work to rebuild, etc. etc.
I hate to think that liberals would encourage rioting and destruction as somehow helping the economy.
I wonder if a good beating would clear up this kind of thinking?
So now excessive health care spending is somehow a GOOD thing? LMAO.
Breaking windows is good for the economy.
Translation: Even while most parts of the economy have price retraction, health care costs for the average home has more than doubled in the past two years. This tax is called ObamaCare.
Increased spending??? My doctor was required by the new Obamacare guidelines to put me on anti-cholesterol medication even though I did not want it. He would be penalized if he did not do it. So now I'm paying a monthly fee for new medication which I just as soon not take.
Also, it is now required to go back to your primary care physician whenever having routine operations for pre-op work. My brother and I both had to go three times to our primary care doctors (different doctors) before we could have some routine surgery. Instead of paying one co-pay we had to pay three co-pay for one operation (not including the specialist).
Yes, there is increased spending. It is nothing more than useless and wasteful spending.
Spending on healthcare may average 5.2% when you include those that get free or subsidized or employer paid healthcare, but it’s a lot more than that for the people that actually have to pay for their own healthcare.
WOW. Government mandated spending increases spending. Who woulda thought that would increase GPD? And give free stuff away and people consume more free stuff. WOW.
Next. We’re going to start burning down everyone’s houses to increase construction spending.
Brought to you by the Nancy Pelosi school of economics ( More unemployment payments are good for the economy ) Meanwhile productivity continues to tank.
I thought material from “The Onion” was forbidden here.
These people are economic retards.
They aren’t even lying; for the people/businesses collecting the higher premiums and co-payments, I guess it IS a good thing. They’re just openly taking the position that f%&*ing over consumers is good for the economy!
Whose economy?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.