CMS' Office of the Actuary Tuesday projected health spending in 2014 totaled $3.1 trillion, or 5.5 percent growth from 2013, according to a Health Affairs report.
Growth in spending hit historical annual lows between 2008 and 2013 of about 4 percent. Last year's accelerated growth was likely a result of 8.4 million Americans gaining coverage under the Affordable Care Act and the 10.1 percentage-point jump in prescription drug spending in 2014 to 12.6 percent, according to the report, which is based on analysis of more than 50 years of national health expenditure data.
Though national health spending increased, consumers shouldered less of the cost in 2014, paying 11.2 percent of the cost out-of-pocket, compared to 11.6 percent in 2013. Out-of-pocket spending growth slowed to 1.3 percent from 3.2 percent in 2013, according to the report.
Growth rates are expected slow this year to 5.3 percent, as coverage expansion and prescription drug spending decelerate following the initial surge. Medicaid spending growth is expected to mirror this trend in 2015, slowing to 8.2 percent from 12 percent in 2014. However, growth rates of premiums and benefits in the private sector are expected to increase as enrollment increases in plans on the federal health exchange, according to the report.
Over the next 10 years, the effects of the ACA, the growing economy and the aging population will spur a long-term health spending growth rate of 5.8 percent annually from 2014 to 2024, according to the report. This prediction trended upward slightly from a projected long-term growth rate of 5.7 percent between 2013 and 2023. Overall, however, growth rates over the next decade are expected to be much slower than the 9 percent average annual growth rate for the three decades prior to the economic recession, according to the report.
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