A Satellite Account for Health in the United States
David M. Cutler, Kaushik Ghosh, Kassandra L. Messer, Trivellore Raghunathan, Allison B. Rosen, Susan T. Stewart
American Economic Review · 2022 · Volume 112 · Issue 2
Abstract
This paper develops a satellite account for the US health sector and measures productivity growth in health care for the elderly population between 1999 and 2012. We measure the change in medical spending and health outcomes for a comprehensive set of 80 conditions. Medical care has positive productivity growth over the time period, with aggregate productivity growth of 1.5 percent per year. However, there is significant heterogeneity in productivity growth. Care for cardiovascular disease has had very high productivity growth. In contrast, care for people with musculoskeletal conditions has been costly but has not led to improved outcomes.
Keywords
Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth, Environmental Accounts, National Government Expenditures and Health, Health: General
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