
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990                   TAG: 9005190161
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

HEALTH-CARE COSTS PAID BY INDIVIDUAL INCREASED IN '80S

The portion of health-care costs paid by individuals increased during the 1980s, reversing a trend dating back to the 1960s when government and business picked up steadily rising shares of the total, according to new findings by Congress's General Accounting Office.

The findings mean that as fast as health-care costs have climbed in recent years, the costs to individual Americans and their families have climbed even faster.

Twenty-five years ago, according to the data, individuals paid 65 percent of the nation's total health-care tab. That share declined steadily until 1982, reaching bottom at 39.1 percent, and then began climbing again, hitting 42.2 percent in 1987.

The decline of the government and business share was nearly equal, with the business decline attributed to cost-control efforts that shifted costs to employees. Business's share rose sharply through the late 1960s and 1970s and began declining after 1980, reaching 28 percent in 1987.

The government share also rose in the 1960s and '70s, reversing itself in the '80s. Government's share peaked at 31.6 percent in 1982, declining to just under 30 percent in 1987, the most recent year for which data were available.

The dollars involved are enormous. The nation now spends $600 billion to $650 billion a year on health care, so each additional 1 percent picked up by individuals equals $6 billion to $6.5 billion.

The GAO did not address the reasons for the decline in the government's share, but in recent years Congress has imposed tighter controls on the big government programs, particularly Medicaid.

by CNB