CMS projects moderate health spending growth through 2025

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services projects national health spending will grow an average 5.8% between 2015 and 2025, unchanged from last year’s 10-year estimate, according to a report published online today by Health Affairs. Spending grew a projected 5.5% in 2015, up from 5.3% in 2014, driven in part by increased use of services by the newly insured, CMS said. Spending for hospital care grew a projected 4.9% in 2015, while hospital price growth slowed to 0.9%, the slowest rate since 1998.  The agency projects Medicare spending will average 6.7% in 2017-2019 and 7.6% in 2020-2025, partly due to higher use of goods and services. Growth in private health spending is expected to be slower than in Medicare, in part due to the continued shift of baby boomers into Medicare.