According to a recent research published in journal of Health Affairs the US healthcare spending is growing at an average rate of 6.3 percent. By 2014 the spending will go up by 9.2 percent. It is projected to reach nearly $4.6 trillion by 2019. In fact the economists at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say that healthcare will account for 19.6 percent of the gross domestic product by 2019. It will be 0.3 percentage points higher than anticipated before healthcare reform.

This year the spending is projected to reach $2.6 trillion. It will account for 17.5 percent of GDP, up 0.2 percentage point from pre-reform estimates. Experts attribute this growth to the postponement of cuts to Medicare physician payments and legislative changes to COBRA premium subsidies for the unemployed. However next year the growth rate of the public and private health spending is expected to slow down as reductions in Medicare physician payment rates are implemented and COBRA premium subsidies expire.

According to the lead author of the report, Andrea Sisko, the Affordable Care Act will have a moderate effect on health spending growth rates and the healthcare care share of the economy. By 2014, the report says that the out-of-pocket spending by consumers will decline only by 1.1 percent instead of rising 6.4 percent. But the good news is that the health insurance coverage will be expanded to the uninsured American.

Healthcare