Growth in U.S. Health Spending Remains Slow in 2010

Health spending growth at historic lows for second consecutive year

U.S. health care spending experienced historically low rates of growth in 2009 and 2010 according to the annual report of national health expenditures (NHE) published in the January issue of the journal Health Affairs. 

Analysts at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) report in the article that the increase in spending for 2009 represents the lowest rate of increase in the entire 51 year history of the NHE.  The low rate of growth, the data show, reflects lower utilization in health care than in previous years. The report notes that U.S. health care spending grew only 3.9 percent in 2010, reaching $2.6 trillion or $8,402 per person, just 0.1 percentage point faster than in 2009.  

In 2010, as health spending growth remained low, growth in U.S. economy as reflected in gross domestic product (GDP) (4.2 percent) rebounded. As such in 2010, the health spending share of the overall economy was unchanged at 17.9 percent.  In the past, this share has increased, rising over time from 5.2 percent in 1960.

The NHE report, prepared annually by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Office of the Actuary, summarizes recent trends in health care spending based on the most current data sources.  Available historically since 1960, the NHE represents the official estimates of total health care spending in the United States and measures annual health spending by the types of goods and services delivered (hospital care, physician services, retail prescription drugs, etc.), by the programs and payers that pay for that care (private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.), and by the sponsors who are ultimately responsible for financing that care (private business, households, and governments). 

Information in this report can be accessed at the following web location:

http://www.cms.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/02_NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.asp#TopOfPage

To read the entire CMS Press Release issued today (1/9/12) and other key findings click here: http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=4245