Consumer Price Index

Acronym: CPI

The consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) measures the U.S city average change in prices consumers pay for goods and services. For medical care, CPI measures total price changes, including both the costs consumers pay out-of-pocket and those insurers (public and private payers) pay to providers and pharmacies. While CPI measures total price changes, the index weights spending to match consumers’ out-of-pocket costs, including consumers’ spending at the point of care and on health insurance premiums. For example, physician and hospital services are 47% of the medical care index. BLS used new expenditure weights to calculate the CPI starting from January 2023 and will continue to update the weights annually. Previously, BLS updated CPI weights once every two years using two consecutive years of consumer spending data. CPI weights will now be calculated each year using one year of spending data for greater accuracy.