Medical Care CPI - Historical Chart
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Medical Care in U.S. City Average. Gray shaded areas indicate U.S. recessions.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), Series CPIMEDSL. Shaded areas = NBER recession dates. Updated 2026-03-10.
What the Jan 2026 Data Shows
At 589.6, the medical care cpi in Jan 2026 is above the 10-year average of 520.7 by 68.95. The trend is upward, with increases in 5 of the last 6 months.
The medical care CPI (FRED series CPIMEDSL) tracks healthcare costs that consumers face directly: physician visits, hospital services, dental work, prescription drugs, and health insurance premiums. Medical care has historically outpaced overall CPI growth, making it one of the most persistent sources of cost pressure for households and businesses.
The BLS methodology for health insurance CPI changed in 2018, which introduced some discontinuity. The current approach measures the retained earnings of insurers rather than premium costs directly, which can create divergence between the CPI reading and what employers actually pay for coverage.
Monthly data, seasonally adjusted. Medical care accounts for roughly 8.5% of the overall CPI basket.
What This Metric Measures
This page tracks the Consumer Price Index for medical care, tracking price changes for professional medical services, hospital services, health insurance, and prescription drugs. The data comes from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database, series CPIMEDSL, updated monthly.
Historical Context
The all-time peak was 589.6 in Jan 2026. The all-time trough was 13.2 in Jan 1947. During COVID-19 in 2020, the reading hit 523.0 (Sep 2020). Year-over-year, the metric has moved 3.4%.
Why It Matters
Health insurance is the second-largest expense for many small businesses after payroll. Unlike wages, which you can adjust by not filling positions, health insurance premiums are a fixed obligation once you offer coverage. When medical care CPI rises faster than your revenue, you face a choice: absorb the cost (reducing cash available for debt payments), reduce coverage (risking employee retention), or drop coverage entirely (making it harder to compete for talent).
What This Means for Business Owners
Understanding where this metric stands relative to historical norms helps business owners make better borrowing decisions. Metrics far from their 10-year average often signal turning points that affect the cost and availability of credit.
Medical Care CPI - Frequently Asked Questions
The medical care CPI is 589.61 as of Jan 2026, per FRED series CPIMEDSL. Medical care inflation has historically run 1-3 percentage points above overall CPI, though recent methodology changes have moderated the official reading.
Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums for small businesses average $8,000-$23,000 per employee per year (single vs. family coverage). Annual increases of 5-8% compound rapidly. A 20-person firm faces $15,000-$35,000+ in additional costs each year.
Hospital services and specialized procedures show the steepest increases. Prescription drug costs are volatile depending on patent expirations and new drug launches. Physician services track broader wage inflation in the healthcare labor market.
The BLS changed its health insurance methodology in 2018. The new approach measures insurer retained earnings rather than raw premiums. This can understate the cost increases that employers and consumers actually experience when their premiums rise.
Options include switching to high-deductible health plans (HDHP) with HSAs, using health insurance purchasing cooperatives, self-insuring (for larger small businesses), or using Individual Coverage HRAs (ICHRA) to shift to individual market plans.
FRED series CPIMEDSL from the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI program. Monthly, seasonally adjusted. Covers medical care commodities (drugs, equipment) and medical care services (professional, hospital, insurance).