Fix Health Care Policy

Health Care Spending Remains Stable, but Not for Long

Health care spending actually didn’t skyrocket in 2011–but just wait.

This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary released the National Health Expenditures report for 2011. The report shows that growth in national health spending remained relatively low in 2011, growing at 3.9 percent.

Overall, the U.S. spent $2.7 trillion on health care in 2011, which accounts for 17.9 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP).

There are four major takeaways from the report:

1. A slow economic recovery played a role. The slow growth in health spending correlates with overall slow growth in incomes, jobs, and GDP in 2011. As the report explains, this “raises questions about whether US health care spending will rebound over the next few years as it typically has after past economic downturns.”

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Tags: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, economic downturn, health spending, National Health Expenditures report, ObamaCare, Office of the Actuary, slow growth