Medicare’s monopsony power has led to slower growth in per-enrollee costs: Per-enrollee costs for like benefits, Medicare and private health insurance, 1968–2016 (indexed, 1968 = 100)
| Year | Private health insurance | Medicare |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 100.000 | 100.000 |
| 1969 | 116.228 | 111.632 |
| 1970 | 135.167 | 119.398 |
| 1971 | 151.997 | 129.186 |
| 1972 | 169.907 | 139.956 |
| 1973 | 184.962 | 145.846 |
| 1974 | 213.680 | 177.045 |
| 1975 | 250.366 | 208.569 |
| 1976 | 295.331 | 243.841 |
| 1977 | 342.870 | 275.297 |
| 1978 | 384.768 | 312.274 |
| 1979 | 449.608 | 352.871 |
| 1980 | 519.467 | 417.419 |
| 1981 | 598.365 | 490.759 |
| 1982 | 675.973 | 563.635 |
| 1983 | 742.038 | 630.148 |
| 1984 | 801.485 | 689.365 |
| 1985 | 877.310 | 733.634 |
| 1986 | 928.269 | 768.845 |
| 1987 | 1035.547 | 813.987 |
| 1988 | 1195.170 | 855.996 |
| 1989 | 1352.504 | 954.907 |
| 1990 | 1563.446 | 1021.202 |
| 1991 | 1714.009 | 1096.218 |
| 1992 | 1859.685 | 1211.705 |
| 1993 | 1957.572 | 1309.844 |
| 1994 | 2003.316 | 1439.611 |
| 1995 | 2015.043 | 1557.042 |
| 1996 | 2067.358 | 1655.073 |
| 1997 | 2144.238 | 1734.012 |
| 1998 | 2218.454 | 1709.487 |
| 1999 | 2300.558 | 1726.846 |
| 2000 | 2525.503 | 1798.322 |
| 2001 | 2742.434 | 1960.645 |
| 2002 | 3059.740 | 2079.713 |
| 2003 | 3285.581 | 2178.614 |
| 2004 | 3501.214 | 2357.059 |
| 2005 | 4602.486 | 2531.503 |
| 2006 | 4950.365 | 2950.344 |
| 2007 | 5143.444 | 3096.297 |
| 2008 | 5427.461 | 3258.014 |
| 2009 | 5888.045 | 3398.044 |
| 2010 | 6186.353 | 3457.796 |
| 2011 | 6473.815 | 3536.240 |
| 2012 | 6609.460 | 3554.467 |
| 2013 | 6754.163 | 3568.240 |
| 2014 | 6930.079 | 3630.526 |
| 2015 | 7352.095 | 3708.251 |
| 2016 | 7742.071 | 3756.258 |
Sources: Author’s analysis of data from CMS 2018a. The like benefits comparison follows the methods of Boccuti and Moon 2003.