Change in medical costs

Year Change
2023 2.7%
2022 2.0%
2021 2.0%
2020 1.7%
2019 2.8%
2018 3.1%
2017 5.1%
2016 3.5%
2015 2.0%
2014 1.6%
2013 3.1%
2012 1.5%
2011 4.4%
2010 4.9%
2009 3.9%
2008 -1.7%
2007 7.9%
2006 7.7%
2005 8.4%
2004 12.0%
2003 11.2%

1997-2023

  • Health care, including employee health insurance and medical assistance, is over 20% of the general fund budget.
  • The size of the health care budget, combined with rapid growth in per capital health care costs, make this a prime source of pressure on spending.
  • Except for a brief period in the mid-1990s and during the recession in 2008 and during this recent COVID-19 pandemic period, health care costs have grown much faster than general inflation as measured by the Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) for personal consumption.
  • Beginning in 2002, cost shifts from employers to employees resulted in much of the decrease in growth of employer medical costs.
  • More recent employer cost control efforts have included generic drug preferences, care management incentives, high-deductible consumer-directed health plans, and health savings accounts (HSAs).

Data Sources:

E-mail: OFM.Forecasting@ofm.wa.gov

Last updated
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.