HEALTH: Kids’ health care costs on the rise

Having kids generates more than a billion grey hairs — they cost billions in healthcare too.

Health care spending on children was $233 billion in 2013, up from $149.6 billion in 1996. That’s a 56% increase. Health care spending per child grew at a slightly lesser rate of 45%. It grew from $1,915 in 1996 to $2,777 in 2013, according to an article published online on Tuesday by JAMA Pediatric.

Authors noted that the three conditions with the most health care spending were inpatient well-newborn care ($27.9 billion), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ($20.6 billion) and well-dental care ($18.2 billion). Asthma had the fourth largest level of spending at $9 billion.

Joseph L. Dieleman, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, Seattle, and coauthors acknowledged that their study reflects only direct health care. Expenses like parents’ lost wages associated with child health care aren’t factored in.

The next step: Determining whether changes in particular subcategories of spending have been associated with improvements in processes or outcomes.

“It is crucial to understand whether spending increases have been appropriate or misguided,” authors noted, “and how we might target spending increases and reductions now and in the future.”