Healthcare Spending Trend to Accelerate, Says CMS

The lingering effects of the economic recession and a modest growth in personal income are expected to continue to constrain healthcare spending through 2013. But look for a jump in spending as more provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are enacted. Those are among the findings of the latest national health expenditure projections released Tuesday by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

U.S. spending on healthcare is expected to increase by an average of only 4% between 2011 and 2013, which is slightly ahead of the historically low 3.8% experienced in 2009.

Total national health expenditures for 2013 are estimated at $2.9 trillion.

Although the spending increase reflects some implementation of the PPACA, the impact of the healthcare reform law is expected to be felt more fully in 2014 when spending growth is expected to increase by 7.4% to $3.1 trillion.