CPI — Medical Care

## What this measures

Out-of-pocket and insured prices for medical care: services from doctors and hospitals, health insurance and medical goods such as prescription drugs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics price index for this item for all urban consumers, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted, with 1982-84 = 100.

## Why it matters

Medical care has risen faster than prices overall for most of the record, and it is a large part of household and employer budgets.

## How to read it

The level of an index means little on its own. Read the change from a year earlier, and compare it with overall CPI (fred_cpi) to see whether this item is running hotter or cooler than prices in general.

## What it does not say

It measures prices, not spending: if people buy less of something because it got dearer, this index does not show that. The BLS adjusts for quality changes, so it is not the same as the sticker price.

## Source

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, series CPIMEDSL. Palanor pulls it from the FRED API (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) nightly. Bureau of Labor Statistics data are in the public domain.