[DrScientist]

Indeed. It's been argued that people intensive activities, like healthcare, thus become relatively more expensive as other, more automation friendly, industries become highly optinised.

ie the relative price of a new car versus a heart transplant is going to continually drop such that we spend more and more as a percentage of GDP on things like health ( and social ) care.

So it's not sure much that health care has become more expensive, as much as relatively more expensive.

The other strong effect is nobodies life is saved, death is simply delayed, and the older you get the more problems you have.

So as well as historically being relatively resistent to automation, success breeds more need.