Health Spending for the U.S. Reaches over $3 Trillion in 2016

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The national health expenditure, the amount of money Americans spend each year on healthcare, is expected to have grown by nearly 6% in 2016 and it is expected to continue this growth annually through 2025.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a report entitled “Web First” that projects this growth by using the current framework of the healthcare system.

At the projected rate, national health spending will outpace the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States by 1.2%. The reason for this rise in expenditures is largely due to the faster growth of medical prices.


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“After an anticipated slowdown in health spending growth for 2016, we expect health spending growth to gradually increase as a result of faster projected growth in medical prices that is only partially offset by slower projected growth in the use and intensity of medical goods and services,” said the study’s author Sean Keehan.

The report found that health spending in 2016 was nearly $3.4 trillion, a 4.8% increase from 2015. By 2025, federal, state, and local governments will need to finance 47% of all national health spending. This is only slightly up from the current 46%.

“Irrespective of any changes in law, it is expected that because of continued cost pressures associated with paying for health care, employers, insurers, and other payers will continue to pursue strategies that seek to effectively manage the use and cost of health care goods and services,” Keehan said.

In terms of the percentage of the population that will have health insurance, the report projected that this will increase from 90.9% (in 2015) to 91.5% in 2025.

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By The Numbers By The Numbers

25.1

percent

of Latinos remain without health insurance coverage

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