ERC states high health care spenders per capita but very good news on Medicaid trend

New data from CMS actuaries finds that per capita health care spending in all CSG-ERC states was above the US average in 2014. The CSG-ERC region made up eight of the top ten most costly states. Massachusetts was the most costly in the region, behind only Alaska nationally. While all CSG-ERC states average annual rate of growth from 1991 to 2014 was at or above the US average, five were average or very close. Vermont was tied with Alaska at 6.6% for the fastest rate of growth. In good news, per capita Medicaid spending dropped in seven ERC states from 2010 to 2014. Six of the ten states with biggest drop in Medicaid rates were in the ERC region. Connecticut led the nation with a 5.7% drop in per capita Medicaid spending. Nationally, Medicaid spending per person didn’t rise at all while Medicare rose by 1.2% and private health insurance was up 3.3%.