title: National Health Spending In 2014: Faster Growth Driven By Coverage Expansion And Prescription Drug Spending.
abstract: US health care spending increased 5.3 percent to $3.0 trillion in 2014. On a per capita basis, health spending was $9,523 in 2014, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2013. The share of gross domestic product devoted to health care spending was 17.5 percent, up from 17.3 percent in 2013. The faster growth in 2014 that followed five consecutive years of historically low growth was primarily due to the major coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act, particularly for Medicaid and private health insurance, which contributed to an increase in the insured share of the population. Additionally, the introduction of new hepatitis C drugs contributed to rapid growth in retail prescription drug expenditures, which increased by 12.2 percent in 2014. Spending by the federal government grew at a faster rate in 2014 than spending by other sponsors of health care, leading to a 2-percentage-point increase in its share of total health care spending between 2013 and 2014.
authors.affiliation: Anne B. Martin (anne.martin@cms.hhs.gov) is an economist in the Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), in Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Micah Hartman is a statistician in the CMS Office of the Actuary.
authors.forename: Micah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hartman
authors.affiliation: Joseph Benson is an economist in the CMS Office of the Actuary.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: Aaron Catlin is a deputy director of the National Health Statistics Group, Office of the Actuary.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Catlin
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000639:trends; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000191:economics; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000191:economics*; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D058996:Quality Improvement; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Cost of Health Care; Financing Health Care; Health Spending