If federal forecasters are accurate, health care spending will represent 20% of the USA’s GDP within a decade, reaching a total of $4 trillion. Health care spending will outpace economic growth every year for the next ten years.

Spending nationally on health is expected to increase by an average of 7.2% per year for the next decade. The largest recent increase was in 2002, when spending rose by 9.1%. Private health insurance is predicted to grow by 6.6% over the same period.

Here are some figures for 2015

— Hospital spending $1.2 trillion (double today’s)

— Prescription drug spending $446 billion ($188 billion in 2004)

— Prescription drug spending growth for next decade, 8.2% per year

Medicare spending $792 billion ($309 billion in 2004)

— Out of pocket payments $421 billion ($248 billion 2005)

The fastest growing sector is home health spending. We do not have estimates for this sector (for 2015).

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today