The estimated $4.3 trillion Americans will spend on health care over the next decade is equivalent to 20 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). The current $2.1 trillion the U.S. spends on health care amounts to 16 percent of the nation's GDP, the total value of all goods and services from all industries within the United States.
The report attributed part of the skyrocketing health care costs on the Baby Boom generation, people born between 1946 and 1964, who are just reaching eligibility for Medicare coverage. The other factor is the slumping economy which the report predicts will further accelerate the shift in health care spending from the private sector to the public.
Co-author of the report, economist Andrea Sisko, spoke about the recently released report during a teleconference call earlier in the week.
"Our expectation is that growth in health spending is expected to be steady over the projection, which is 2007 through 2017, at 6.7 percent per year, Sisco said.
"At the same time, we are expecting economic growth to slow to an average annual rate of 4.7 percent. As a result, the combination of steady health spending growth and slowing economic growth will lead to the health care part of gross domestic product rising to nearly 20 percent by 2017, or nearly one-fifth of the economy," Sisco added.
