WASHINGTON -- Even as President Barack Obama's health care law expands coverage and transforms the way millions get medical care, it will have little effect on the total U.S. health care bill, a new government report finds. <\/p>\n
Health care spending is expected to continue to surge over the next decade, hitting about $4.8 trillion in 2021, independent economists at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate. <\/p>\n
That is up from $2.8 trillion this year and will push health care spending to nearly 20 percent of the U.S. economy by the beginning of the next decade. <\/p>\n
The new estimates -- the latest annual projection from the federal government -- undermine claims by critics that the law will dramatically drive up health care spending. At the same time, they underscore some of the law's limitations. <\/p>\n
\"The growth rate of national health spending is projected to be fairly similar with or without the Affordable Care Act,\" said Sean Keehan, lead author of the report. <\/p>\n
Total health care spending over the next decade will be about 1 percent higher -- or about $478 billion -- as result of the law, even with the federal government spending hundreds of millions of dollars to guarantee nearly all Americans coverage for the first time. <\/p>\n
After the law is fully implemented in 2014, total health care spending is expected to grow more slowly than it would without the law, the report said. <\/p>\n
The economists estimate that 30 million more people will gain coverage <\/p>\n
Many of those people are expected to qualify for federal subsidies that will be available to people making up to four times the federal poverty line, or $92,200, for a family of four. <\/p>\n
But the new estimates also show how little the law will do to fundamentally change the trajectory of health care spending. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More: <\/p>\n
U.S. health spending likely to keep rising, with or without Obama's plan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON -- Even as President Barack Obama's health care law expands coverage and transforms the way millions get medical care, it will have little effect on the total U.S. health care bill, a new government report finds Continue reading