Rise in U.S. Healthcare Spending Projected

By Sean P. Keehan, John A. Poisal, Gigi A. Cuckler, Andrea M. Sisko, Sheila D. Smith, Andrew J. Madison, Devin A. Stone, Christian J. Wolfe and Joseph M. Lizonitz (all from CMS Office of the Actuary)
Health Affairs, July 13, 2016 (Online before print)

Abstract

Health spending growth in the United States for 2015–25 is projected to average 5.8 percent — 1.3 percentage points faster than growth in the gross domestic product — and to represent 20.1 percent of the total economy by 2025. As the initial impacts associated with the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions fade, growth in health spending is expected to be influenced by changes in economic growth, faster growth in medical prices, and population aging. Projected national health spending growth, though faster than observed in the recent history, is slower than in the two decades before the recent Great Recession, in part because of trends such as increasing cost sharing in private health insurance plans and various Medicare payment update provisions. In addition, the share of total health expenditures paid for by federal, state, and local governments is projected to increase to 47 percent by 2025.

National Health Expenditures (NHE) 2016

NHE  $3.3507 trillion
NHE as percent of GDP  18.1%
Government proportion of NHE  46%
NHE per capita  $10,345.5

Conclusion

The health sector is in the midst of a unique period, in which various forces are exerting differential pressures on health spending growth. Economywide and medical-specific price growth have been very low, helping restrain inflation’s impact on health spending, and the Medicare program is experimenting with various alternative payment approaches. Meanwhile, many Americans are gaining access to health coverage for the first time, aging into Medicare, or finding that a greater share of their health expenses needs to be paid out of pocket. And the Medicaid program is evolving: Its population mix is increasingly likely to be covered through private plans.

For the period 2015–25, growth in health spending is projected to average 5.8 percent, influenced in part by an expectation of higher economywide and medical prices. By 2025, as economic, legislative, and demographic influences play out, the health spending share of the economy is projected to reach 20.1 percent, up from 17.5 percent in 2014, and governments are anticipated to sponsor 47 percent of health spending, up from 45 percent in 2014. The percentage of the US population that is uninsured is expected to be 8 percent in 2025, down from about 11 percent in 2014.

CMS National Health Expenditure Projections 2015-2025

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Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

The Great Recession has contributed to slowing of the growth in health care spending in recent years, but the future changes are predicted to be more closely related to various demographic related coverage changes plus certain payment trends including the increase in cost sharing in private insurance plans. Also the increase in the government contribution to our national health expenditures deserves special mention.

Regarding increases in patient cost sharing, it is no secret that this has been a blunt instrument to control spending, resulting in a decline in use of beneficial health care services. As has been stated repeatedly, we need more patient-friendly methods of slowing the increase in spending such as fairer publicly-administered pricing through a single payer national health program.

The government contribution to our national health expenditures has increased to 46 percent, but that does not include two large components of taxpayer-funded government spending on health care: 1) The government contribution to employee health insurance on the federal, state and local levels, and 2) the massive tax expenditures for employer-sponsored health plans (i.e., the health insurance component of the employee benefit package is not subject to income taxes, reducing revenue for the government which must be made up by other taxpayers).

The irony is that we already pay in taxes devoted to health care alone more than almost every other nation pays in public and private health care spending combined. Without increasing our current level of spending we could pay for a comprehensive, government-financed, single payer national health program. Yet we continue to support our dysfunctional financing system that wastes so much on administrative excesses while perpetuating injustices by misallocating distribution of our health care resources.

We can and must do better.