National healthcare spending projected through 2025

Editor's Note

The growth in US healthcare spending from 2015 to 2025 is projected to average 5.8%--1.3% faster than growth in the gross domestic product, finds this study. Healthcare will represent 20.1% of the total economy by 2025.

With the initial impact of the Affordable Care Act fading, growth in healthcare spending will be influenced by changes in economic growth, faster growth in medical costs, and an aging population, according to the authors.

The share of total healthcare expenditures paid for by federal, state, and local governments is projected to increase 47% by 2025.

1Sean P. Keehan (sean.keehan{at}cms.hhs.gov ) is an economist in the Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in Baltimore, Maryland. ↵*Corresponding author Health spending growth in the United States for 2015-25 is projected to average 5.8 percent-1.3 percentage points faster than growth in the gross domestic product-and to represent 20.1 percent of the total economy by 2025.