Healthcare spending in the United States reached $4.9 trillion and increased 7.5% in 2023, according to a study published online Dec. 18 in Health Affairs.
Anne B. Martin, from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Baltimore, and colleagues examined growth in national health expenditures in 2023.
The researchers found that in 2023, healthcare spending in the United States reached $4.9 trillion and increased 7.5%, up from a rate of 4.6% in 2022. The insured share of the population reached 92.5% in 2023, as enrollment in private health insurance increased strongly for the second year running; private health insurance and Medicare spending both grew faster than in 2022. As the Covid-19 public health emergency ended, spending and enrollment growth slowed for Medicaid. The health sector’s share of the economy was 17.6% in 2023, which was similar to 17.4% in 2022, but lower than the share in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the pandemic. Compared with 2022, in 2023, state and local governments accounted for a higher share of spending, while the federal government share was lower with the decline in Covid-19-related funding and slowing in growth of federal Medicaid spending.
“On average during 2020 to 2023, healthcare spending and overall economic growth increased 6.6% and 6.5% per year, respectively,” the authors write. “As a result, the share of the economy devoted to healthcare in 2023 (17.6%) was about the same share as in 2019 (17.5%).” HealthDay