CMS: higher health care costs expected through 2023

Adding more individuals to the health care rolls will raised costs by two percentage points between 2013 and 2014, and go higher each year through 2023, according to a new report released this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary and published in Health Affairs.

Health spending growth for 2013 is projected to remain at 3.6%, but will rise to 5.6% for 2014, and to 6% for 2015 through 2023, largely as a result of the continued implementation of the Affordable Care Act coverage expansions, faster projected economic growth, and the aging of the population, CMS reports. “While projected growth over the projection period is faster compared to recent experience, it is still slower than the growth observed over the last two decades. From 1990-2008, the average rate was 7.2% and health spending grew 2 percentage points faster than GDP,” the agency said.

By 2023, health expenditures financed by federal, state, and local governments are projected to account for 48% of national health spending. In 2012, such expenditures constituted 44% of national health spending.