Data released last week by Standard & Poor's indicates theaverage per capita cost of health care services covered by privateinsurance and Medicare programs rose 7.32 percent over 12 monthsending in August.

Hospital and physician claims for patients covered undercommercial health plans were the hardest hit, according to S&P,as claim costs associated with commercial health plans rose 8.66percent, as measured by the S&P Healthcare Economic CommercialIndex.

Medicare claim costs for services rendered by hospitals andphysicians rose a more modest 5.08 percent.

The S&P Healthcare Economic Indices estimate the per capitachange in revenues accrued each month by hospital and professionalservices facilities for services provided to patients covered undertraditional Medicare and commercial health insurance programs inthe U.S. The annual growth rates are determined by calculating apercent change of the 12-month moving averages of the index levelsversus the same month of the prior year.

"Two caveats to these figures: first Medicare is subject todifferent regulatory and market effects than the Commercial Index,"says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard& Poor's. "Second, these data, which are through August 2010,do not reflect any impact of the recently passed federal healthcare legislation. As the cost of healthcare is a daily topic ofdiscussion, we expect many to use these indices to understandchanges in healthcare costs for the insured population in the U.S.,by both service provider and by benefits coverage."

The S&P Healthcare Economic Composite Index is a weightedaverage of the S&P Healthcare Economic Commercial Index and theS&P Healthcare Economic Medicare Index. Alternatively, it is aweighted average of the S&P Healthcare Economic Hospital Indexand the S&P Healthcare Economic Professional Services Index, aseach of these indices has the analogous Commercial and Medicarecomponent.

The table below summarizes the year-over-year change in theS&P Healthcare Economic Indices for the 12-month period endingAugust 2010. With each monthly release, the index levels, includingthe 12 month moving averages, are recalculated for the full historyof the indices, whenever there are revisions to an underlying dataused in the models. The entire revised history, as well as fullresults for the underlying S&P Healthcare Economic Indices areavailable from Standard & Poor's as a subscription service.

S&P Healthcare Economic Indices(12-month moving average)