Medical spending is up, though Americans are using fewer services

A new health care analysis tool shows that medical spending across the U.S. has increased even though people utilized fewer health care services. Looking at data between 2012 and 2016 across 112 metro areas, the Health Care Cost Institute found that spending was up nearly 13 percent, while the use of services was down by 17 percent. Health care spending varied widely among communities, with high use of services correlating with lower costs. For example, Baltimore residents spent 26 percent below the national average on health care, and they also used health care services 34 percent more than other cities’ residents. In contrast, health spending in San Francisco was 64 percent above average, while its residents used medical services 22 percent less than the rest of the country.