The Other Inflation

The results are in for 2017. All I have to say is that if you have an ACA subsidy or if you are employed or if you are over 65, go hug your family and tell them it could be worse.  Me? The spread between health care inflation and "normal inflation" for early retirees who are on their own without a subsidy means they need to take money from one pot (let's say kids or future retirement capital or current lifestyle for example) to pour into another (incremental increases in health care costs under the ACA).  And this time its not pretty.  I finally get, viscerally, the concept of inflation as a tax. Here's what it looks like for me going as far back as 2010:

The top is time series change of costs since 2010. That's regular inflation in red (CPI-U inflationdata.com) and average employer based insurance, single coverage, in grey (Kaiser Family Foundation Survey 2016). My health data is in dark blue.  The bottom in light blue is year over year % change.

My 2016-2017 % change: ~47%
My 2010-2017 annualized rate: 16.3%




Let's put that top number in context.  Using 2016 data from statista here were the 20 countries with the highest inflation rates:

So I guess I can say that my health care inflation in 2016-2017, when looked at in isolation, is at least better than South Sudan and Venezuela.  But on the other hand it's worse than Suriname, Yemen, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Ghana, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Azerbaijan, Haiti, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Nepal, Maldova, Turkey, and Egypt.