US Federal Spending on Healthcare to Double

Currently, healthcare spending accounts for about 5% of the GDP (gross domestic product).  Releasing “The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022, ” the US Congressional Budget Office reports that federal healthcare spending will more than double over the next decade.  The cost of federal healthcare programs is expected to increase by 8% each year from 2012 to 2022, to reach $1.8 trillion by 2022, which would be about 7.3% of the GDP in that year.  Whereas Medicare, Medicaid, and other healthcare programs cost about $856 billion in 2011, the cost of such programs is projected to cost slightly less -- $847 billion -- in 2012, reflecting a decline in Medicaid spending; however, after that, the cost each year will rise quickly.