December 16, 2021 – The U.D. spent more than $4 trillion on healthcare for the first time in 2020, as government spending in response to COVID-19 drove higher growth in health expenditures, The Hill reports.
A release from the Office of the Actuary at CMS on Wednesday found U.S. healthcare spending increased 9.7% in 2020 to $4.1 trillion, or $12,530 per person.
That growth rate is significantly higher than the roughly 5% growth in health spending in recent years. The report, published in Health Affairs, explains that by pointing to the 36% increase in government spending on healthcare in response to COVID-19. That includes the $122 billion Congress allocated for the Provider Relief Fund to help hospitals deal with the pandemic, as well as increased Medicaid spending.
Amid unprecedented economic upheaval due to the pandemic, enrollment in job-based health insurance declined by 2.3 million people, while Medicaid enrollment jumped up by 3.7 million people, The Hill said. With that safety net in place, the number of uninsured fell slightly, from 31.8 million to 31.2 million.
Health spending rose to 19.7% of gross domestic product, almost one-fifth of the economy, up from 17.6% in 2019.