Don't Assume Slowed Health Care Costs Indicate a Trend

With health care spending a central topic in budget discussions, the actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have released a timely report on the growth of National Health Expenditures (NHE). In the report, published in Health Affairs, CMS finds that total health care spending (both private and public spending) in the U.S. in 2011 reached $2.7 trillion, or about 17.9 percent of GDP. This comes out to roughly $8,700 per person.