National Health Spending to Reach $7.7 Trillion by 2032
Washington, D.C. – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected Wednesday that U.S. health care spending would climb to $7.7 trillion by 2032, representing 19.7 percent of the U.S. economy.
This spending does not translate to better health care. The Commonwealth Fund has found that the United States experiences worse health outcomes despite spending significantly more on health care than its peers.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Public Citizen urged the Biden administration to protect patients from profiteering by private equity, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies. A recent study revealed that privatized Medicare has cost U.S. taxpayers more than half a trillion dollars between 2007-2023 – including $82 billion last year alone.
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“Within this decade, health care expenses are projected to amount to one in five dollars in the economy. This has nothing to do with improving care and everything to do with price-gouging, monopolization and wealth extraction by insurance corporations, Big Pharma and for-profit hospitals. Privatized Medicare, for example, cost taxpayers more than half a trillion dollars over a decade and a half, and will take even more – much more – in the decade to come.
“We have known for decades that health care costs in the U.S. are out of control. The jaw-dropping figures from CMS highlight the need to move to Medicare for All immediately so that we can finally start to make health care more affordable for taxpayers, while ensuring everyone in America can access the care and medicines they need. Other countries spend far less per capita on health care while guaranteeing coverage and providing higher quality care. It is time that we do the same.”