Growth chart with coins The consumer price index for medical care services in April rose 2.3 percent, while overall inflation increased 2 percent YOY. (Image: Shutterstock)

If it seems as if health insurance is going up faster in cost, that’s because it is. The inflation rate for health insurance hit a five-year high in April. It could be due to the rise in managed care, but also could owe some of the rise to a decrease in medical-loss ratios.

Modern Healthcare reports that although the other categories within the medical care services index, professional services and hospital and related services, rose just 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, in April, the Consumer Price Index for health insurance jumped 10.7 percent over last year. That’s the largest increase since at least April 2014, according to a Modern Healthcare analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ unadjusted monthly Consumer Price Index data.

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Marlene Satter

Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.

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