Government experts predict national spending on health care will increase by as much as six percent by 2023.
Analysts from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stated that the Affordable Care Act, the aging of the baby boomer generation, and the growing economy will cause an increase in the healthcare budget.
"The period in which healthcare has accounted for a stable share of economic output is projected to end in 2014, primarily because of the coverage expansions of the Affordable Care Act," the authors wrote.
CMS official Andrea M. Sisko and one of the report's authors explained that although that U.S. government can still support coverage for millions of people, the annual rate of healthcare spending until 2023 will be lower compared to the years prior to the 2007 recession, the New York Times reported.
Analysts predict the healthcare budget will increase by 5.6 percent in 2014 and six percent by 2023. National health spending by 2023 is expected to reach $5.2 trillion, compared to 2013's $2.9 trillion. The share of federal agencies in health care spending will increase, while the portion paid by local and state governments will remain the same. The price households and private businesses pay for health coverage will also decrease slightly.
About nine million Americans were given health care coverage in 2014 through private insurance and Medicaid.
"If the law works as it's intended to, the uninsured will be substantially reduced. That's a good thing for the country and potentially could increase physician office visits," said study co-author Sean P. Keehan during an interview with Medscape Medical News.
The study also looked at the rate of prescription drug spending, which the researchers projected to increase by three percent in 2014 and persist until 2015.
Further details of the report were published in the Sept.4 issue of Health Affairs.
