Health Spending Leaps Upward As ObamaCare Takes Effect

BY JOHN MERLINE of INVESTORS.com. Excerpts:

"After trending downward since 2002, national health spending jumped 5.5% in 2014 — the steepest climb in seven years — as ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion and insurance subsidies took effect, according to the latest data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Spending by the federal government jumped 10.1% last year, compared with 3.5% in the private sector, the report shows.

The finding runs counter to repeated boasts by President Obama that ObamaCare had ushered in the lowest rate of health spending growth in decades."

"CMS data show that between 2002 and 2009, the annual growth rate in spending dropped steadily from 9.6% to 3.8%, where it hovered until last year. Credit for the slowdown was attributed to previous Medicare reforms, the rapid growth in "health savings account" type plans, and in more recent years the recession and slow economic recovery.

The latest forecast projects that annual spending increases will average 5.8% over the next decade, which the report, published in the journal Health Affairs, attributes to "the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansions, faster economic growth, and population aging.""