WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. health care spending last year grew at the fastest pace since President Barack Obama took office, driven by expanded coverage under his namesake law and by zooming prescription drug costs, the government said Wednesday.
After five years of historically low growth, national health expenditures increased by 5.3 percent in 2014, reaching $3 trillion, or $9,523 for every man, woman and child. That followed a 2.9 percent increase for 2013. Such seemingly small percentage shifts resonate when the total is $3 trillion.
The report by nonpartisan experts at the Department of Health and Human Services may signal the end of an unusually long lull in health care inflation that has benefited the Obama administration. While the president’s health care law has increased coverage, the cost problem doesn’t appear solved. Even now, the Republican-led Congress is preparing to send a repeal bill to his desk.
Renewing concerns about affordability, the report also found that health care spending grew faster than the economy as a whole, reaching 17.5 percent of GDP.
“The return to faster growth and an increased share of GDP in 2014 was largely influenced by the coverage expansions of the Affordable Care Act,” said the report, referring to Obama’s law. It made no predictions, saying future trends depend on how the health care industry adjusts to continuing change and how the economy fares.