Sunday, August 2, 2015

OBAMAmess: U.S. Health-Spending Growth Jumped to 5.5% in 2014

... pace set to continue over next decade, according to federal actuaries
Growth in national health spending, which had dropped to historic lows in recent years, has snapped back and is set to continue at a faster pace over the next decade, federal actuaries said Tuesday.
The return to bigger growth is a result of expanded insurance coverage under the 2010 health law, a revived economy and crunchtime as Medicare’s baby-boom beneficiaries enter their 70s.
A spinal surgery at the University of Colorado Hospital 
earlier this year. American spending on all health care 
grew 5.5% in 2014 and will grow 5.3% this year, 
according to federal actuaries. 
Photo: Andy Cross/Denver Post/Getty Images
American spending on all health care grew 5.5% in 2014 from the previous year and will grow 5.3% this year, according to a report from actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published in the journal Health Affairs. In the years through 2024, spending growth is expected to average 5.8%, peaking at 6.3% in 2020.
[...]
... In all, health care will comprise about a fifth of the U.S. economy by 2024, and the growth rate will exceed the expected average growth in gross domestic product by 1.1 percentage points.
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The actuaries pointed to the rising numbers of people who have health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, projecting that around 8.4 million fewer Americans were uninsured in 2014 than in 2013 and noting their increased use of medical services.
Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income Americans, was expanded under the health law in most of the country. The report projected 78.1 million people will be enrolled by 2024, continuing to outstrip Medicare, the federal insurance program for people 65 and older, which will have 70.3 million enrollees. Those Medicare beneficiaries will become increasingly expensive, however, as they age and seek more care, from hospitals in particular. ...
Read the full story HERE.

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