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Forbes
21-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Care About General Inflation? Why Healthcare Inflation Matters, Too
Virgil Bretz is co-founder and CEO of MacroHealth, a healthcare fintech platform. As a technology CEO operating in the healthcare sector, I've seen firsthand how inflation plays out—not just in interest rates or commodity prices but in the escalating cost of care that quietly impacts every employer, policymaker and household in America. If we're serious about tackling general inflation, we need to stop treating healthcare as a policy silo and start seeing it for what it truly is: the largest and most durable source of inflation in the U.S. economy. Healthcare Is The Largest Line Item In The Economy In 2023, total U.S. healthcare spending was $4.9 trillion, equivalent to 17.6% of the GDP. That's more than we spent on real estate or manufacturing, and more than double the estimated total U.S. investment in energy in 2022. Let's contrast the pricing pressures from two headline sectors of our economy: • Energy inflation is a fast-moving, volatile force that can create inflation spikes and shape consumer perceptions, despite being a smaller share of total spending than healthcare. • Healthcare inflation is a slow-burning, long-term pressure, embedded in structural costs and benefits. However, healthcare often receives little attention in discussions of inflation. Part of the problem is measurement: In the Consumer Price Index (CPI), medical care is weighted at around 8% because this index only reflects consumer out-of-pocket costs. However, for 92% of Americans, most healthcare costs are paid indirectly through employer or government-sponsored health insurance (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid). Because the CPI reflects prices paid directly by consumers, not by employers, insurers or the government, it excludes most of the $4.9 trillion spent annually on healthcare. Healthcare spending is deeply embedded in our economy, and it's a substantial amount. Worse, healthcare costs have been rising steadily for decades, consuming a growing share of wages and tax revenue, yet this impact is muted in CPI-based inflation narratives. Policymakers or analysts relying solely on the CPI underestimate the economic drag of healthcare. To account for this, the PCE index, preferred by the Federal Reserve for policy decisions, weights healthcare at approximately 20%, including employer and government spending. It's the steady, relentless inflation of healthcare costs that's led to healthcare being such a large component driver of general inflation. Health Benefits Are An Inflation Engine For Employers In 2024, the average annual family premium for employer-sponsored health insurance reached $25,572. In industries such as manufacturing, health insurance can account for nearly as much or more of a product's cost as the components. In the auto industry, for example, General Motors reported in 2007 that healthcare added $1,500 to the cost of every car. Nearly every mid-sized and large company must directly pay for employee healthcare benefits. As a result, these input costs act like a value-added tax, or VAT. At every stage of a product's creation, for example, from extracting raw materials to assembly and from distribution to retail, direct healthcare input costs (and profit markups on each stage of these input costs) accumulate. If these accumulated input costs are higher and are inflating faster in America than in other competing countries, and they are, then our global competitiveness decreases. Health Benefits Are An Inflation Engine For Employees Most Americans receive health insurance through an employer plan. These employer-paid premiums are a part of total compensation. Health insurance costs that rise rapidly reduce what employers can allocate to cash wages. Between 2012 and 2022, average employer health insurance premiums increased by 43%, while wages increased by only 35%. As healthcare costs rise, employers may contain total compensation costs by suppressing nominal wage growth. Take-home pay is reduced for employees in other ways as well. As healthcare costs inflate at rates higher than wages or general inflation, employees are also faced with higher premium shares, deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket maximums. Between 2013 and 2023, the average deductible for single coverage increased by 53%. Together, employees' real disposable income, after accounting for cost-sharing, has effectively declined even as nominal wages grew. Inflation Without Healthcare Reform Is Incomplete We can't talk about controlling inflation without addressing the structural cost drivers embedded in our healthcare system. Policymakers have tools like rate setting, transparency mandates and payment reform. But the private sector also has levers—especially in tech-enabled solutions to complexity, misaligned incentives and opaque pricing. Until we confront healthcare inflation head-on, gains made elsewhere—be it from energy, housing or supply chain improvements—will be undermined by this one sector's relentless cost creep. As business leaders, we often think of inflation as a risk to be managed. But in healthcare, inflation is an outcome we've tolerated for too long. If you're a founder, policy advisor or investor thinking about long-term productivity, remember: Healthcare costs aren't adjacent to the inflation story—it is an inflation story. And fixing it isn't just a moral imperative. It's an economic one. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Associated Press
24-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Documo Appoints Veteran Healthcare Executive BJ Boyle to Board of Directors
Former PointClickCare and Current MacroHealth Chief Product Officer Deepens Company's Focus on Clinical Workflow Automation WILMINGTON, DELAWARE / ACCESS Newswire / June 24, 2025 / Documo , a leading innovator in Cloud Fax and Intelligent Document Processing solutions, announces the appointment of BJ Boyle to its Board of Directors. BJ brings over two decades of expertise in Healthcare Technology and Product Management, currently serving as Chief Product Officer at MacroHealth, where he plays a pivotal role in product strategy and healthcare innovation. 'We are thrilled to welcome BJ Boyle to our board,' said Denis Whelan, CEO of Documo. 'His deep understanding of healthcare technology and product management aligns perfectly with Documo's vision of leveraging modern technology and automation to alleviate administrative burdens in healthcare.' 'Joining Documo's board is an incredible opportunity,' said BJ Boyle. 'I've been thoroughly impressed and excited by the team's unwavering commitment to their mission. Their dedication to innovation and simplifying healthcare communications is truly inspiring, and I'm eager to contribute to their continued success.' This announcement happens at a pivotal moment in Documo's company history. After a record year of ARR growth in 2024, this addition enables Documo to continue to invest in truly innovative products for the healthcare market. BJ Boyle's career spans transformative roles at PointClickCare, Matrix Solutions, Oracle Cerner Corporation, and Resource Systems, where he demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing healthcare delivery through innovative product strategies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the University of Mount Union, an MBA from Point Park University, and an Executive Certificate in Healthcare Leadership from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. About Documo Documo provides secure, cloud-based fax and intelligent document processing solutions with built-in HIPAA compliance. Trusted by thousands of healthcare and regulated industry organizations, Documo simplifies administrative tasks and improves patient outcomes. As a SOC2 and HITRUST-certified organization, Documo maintains the highest security and compliance standards for protected health information, ensuring complete adherence to HIPAA regulations in all document processing operations. Contact InformationLarisa Summers SVP Marketing 888-966-4922 SOURCE: Documo press release
