Medical Care Price Index Historical Chart

What this pillar measures

The healthcare pillar: separating changes in medical prices from changes in the amount of care a household uses.

Medical-care CPI combines medical services with medical commodities. Services include professional care, hospital-related care, and health insurance; commodities include medicines, equipment, and supplies. This chart uses CPIMEDSL, the seasonally adjusted U.S. city average index, with the 1982–84 average set to 100.

How to read the chart

The number is an index level, not dollars, the cost of insurance, or an inflation percentage. For month-to-month or year-to-year growth, divide the later observation by the earlier one, subtract one, and multiply by 100. Index points alone are not percentage changes. Check the interval selected in the chart before comparing results.

Illustration, not current data: an index moving from 500 to 520 rises 4%, not 20%. A hypothetical $200 item tracking that exact movement would become $208. A household’s total bill could change much more if it needed additional treatment or switched coverage.

What moves this measure

Medical goods and different kinds of services contribute to the combined index with different weights. One component need not move in the same direction as another.

BLS bases medical-care weights on consumer out-of-pocket spending, but many measured provider prices include both patient and insurer reimbursements. Health-insurance measurement uses a specialized method rather than simply following quoted premiums.

What it does not tell you

This is not total national health expenditure or average annual household healthcare spending.

It does not tell you the copay, deductible, network price, drug cost, or premium under a specific plan. Changes in the amount or type of care used are different from a pure price change.

Seasonally adjusted figures can be revised. A monthly decline does not mean every treatment became cheaper, just as slower inflation does not necessarily mean a lower price level.

When the numbers change

BLS publishes medical-care CPI monthly. An observation labeled July describes July’s index, not a live reading taken today or necessarily a July release date. The site shows the latest collected observation and its source-check date. It does not fabricate a second-by-second medical-cost reading.