Spending on health care in US rises to $4.5 trillion in 2022; a return to pre-pandemic growth rates

After surging in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and then curtailing almost as dramatically a year later, U.S. health care spending will increase by just over 4% in 2022, increasing by 4. The federal government announced Wednesday that it has reached $500 billion.

Annual growth rates in the nation's health care spending appear to be returning to pre-pandemic trends, according to a new report from analysts at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).of report Published online Wednesday in Health Affairs.

According to CMS, health spending increased by 4.2% to 4.6% annually in the four years ending in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year's growth rate was faster than the 3.2% growth in health spending in 2021, but less than half of the 10.6% growth in health spending in 2020.

“This pattern reflects the volatility associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the significant response by the federal government,” CMS statistician Micah Hartman said in a press briefing for journalists on the report. Stated.

CMS produces an annual report on national health care spending, which various government agencies, including the White House Office of Management and Budget, rely on in developing economic and budget projections and plans.

Health spending accounted for 17.3% of the total U.S. economy in 2022, as spending growth slowed compared to 2020 and 2021. This was down from 19.5% in the first year of the pandemic and the highest share the nation has recorded. Medical expense account.

In 2020, national health spending “accelerated significantly, primarily due to unprecedented COVID-19 funding and public health spending,” Hartman said. “As a result, the share of the health sector in GDP reached 19.5% in 2020.”

The 2022 survey results reflect the pre-pandemic situation from 2016 to 2019, when health care's share of the economy hovered between 17.4% and 17.6%.

Current trends are less dramatic than in long-term CMS. predictionAccording to the World Health Organization, healthcare spending is expected to increase by an average of 5.4% annually until 2031, accounting for one-fifth of the national economy by then.

Spending on prescription drugs, which accounts for about 9% of total health spending, grew faster than other segments. Retail spending on pharmaceuticals totaled $405.9 billion in 2022, an increase of 8.4% from 2021 after an increase of 6.8% from 2020.

The Biden administration has attempted to rein in The law includes provisions to reduce the cost of monthly insulin and negotiate lower prices on some drugs covered by Medicare. And last week, Biden said his administration could. Break drug patents If the cost is too high, it will be made using tax money.

Because overall spending on health care has increased modestly, health care costs—the amount that patients and their insurers, public or private, pay for the care they receive—will not rise as sharply in 2022. did. Medical price index he rose 3.2%. According to the report, the overall inflation rate in that year reached 7.1%, a rate not seen in the past 40 years.

The percentage of Americans with health insurance will reach an all-time high of 92% in 2022, according to a CMS report. Aaron Catlin, deputy director of the CMS National Statistics Group, said this is due to continued coverage for Medicaid patients due to the pandemic and to more U.S. residents through the health insurance marketplace established under the Affordable Care Act. He said this was due to both measures giving access to health insurance. .

CMS economist Ann Martin said the number of Medicaid enrollees increased by 6.1 million people in 2022 as a result of continued Medicaid coverage requirements that Congress enacted in early 2020. This requirement ended earlier this year, and the Medicaid program now “Unraveling” process By requiring enrollees to establish eligibility for the program.

Thousands of Idahoans who were removed from Medicaid through the disenrollment process are getting their lives back on track.

Spending on Medicare will increase by 5.9% to $944.3 billion in 2022, and the number of people enrolled in Medicare will increase by 1.9%, Martin said.

Enrollment through the ACA Marketplace increased by 1.7 million people, and the number of people enrolled in employer-sponsored coverage increased by 1.5 million. Martin said private insurance coverage increased by 1.5% in 2022, marking the “fastest growth and enrollment since 2015.”

Catlin said subsidies for premiums for individual insurance purchased through the ACA Marketplaces, first introduced under the American Rescue Plan Act and then extended in the Inflation Control Act of 2022, are now available for marketplace plans. He said that membership was encouraged.

Spending on private health insurance and Medicare each increased by 5.9%. Consumers' out-of-pocket medical expenses (which includes copays and other non-reimbursed medical expenses, but excludes health insurance premiums) increased by 6.6%.