Thursday, February 22, 2018

Healthcare Spending to Reach $5.7 Trillion by 2026

"National healthcare spending trends are unsustainable in the long term," President Donald Trump's budget acknowledges.

On healthcare, projected to increase 5.5 percent annually over the next nine years, pushes the total to $5.7 trillion a year by 2026.

Put another way, American healthcare spending in 2026 equals the entire size of the 1990 U.S. economy and eclipses the current gross domestic product of every other country not named China.

It's not that we spend more on healthcare than every other country - we spend more on healthcare than every other country, save China, spends on everything.

While growth in spending on private plans slows over the next decade, government programs that promise more coverage, cover more people, and cater to an aging clientele in an aging country fuel the boom in healthcare spending.

"Spending growth in Medicare and Medicaid is a substantial contributor to the faster projected overall growth in national health spending through 2026," the authors affiliated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services note.

Prescription drugs, a healthcare sector heavily subsidized through George W. Bush's Medicare Part D and deemed an "Essential Health Benefit" through Obamacare, somewhat predictably, given its recent entitlement status preceded Baby Boomers becoming senior citizens, see prices rise faster than any other sector of healthcare.

https://spectator.org/healthcare-spending-to-reach-5-7-trillion-by-2026/

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