Hatch: Administration Report Finds Growth in Health Spending Doubles by 2014

Utah Senator Says Report is “Resounding Repudiation of the President’s Unconstitutional $2.6 Trillion Health Law”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, today called a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report a resounding repudiation of the President’s health law. The report, The 2012 National Health Expenditure Projections released annually by CMS’ Office of the Actuary, found that the growth in health care spending will double by 2014, despite the President’s promise that this law would reduce health care costs.

“This report is a resounding repudiation of the President’s unconstitutional $2.6 trillion health law. Exploding health care spending is hardly the relief the President promised the American people,” said Hatch. “Instead of working to address skyrocketing costs and reforming our nation’s broken entitlement programs, the President opted to jam through a partisan government takeover of health care that adds more taxes, more spending, and more bureaucracy onto the backs of America’s already struggling middle-class families. It’s well past time we repealed this law and get to work on entitlement reform, which should serve as the bedrock for real and lasting health care reform.”

Highlights of the 2012 National Health Expenditure Projections, include:

Health spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.7 percent per year from 2011-2021. Simply put, health spending will rise by MORE than 50 percent over the next decade.

Health spending as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will rise to 19.6 percent by 2021. To put this in perspective, one out of every five dollars in our economy will be spent on health care.

Growth in national health spending will almost DOUBLE from 3.8 percent in 2011 to 7.4 percent in 2014, largely due to the Medicaid expansions and federal subsidies which will “increase the demand for health care significantly.”

ObamaCare Makes It Worse:

The 2012 National Health Expenditure Projections report provides a comprehensive look at the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (PPACA) over the next decade, including.

Higher Costs:

National health spending will increase at an average of more than 50 percent over the next decade proving again that this law miserably failed at addressing the most fundamental challenge of rising costs.

Yearly growth in out of pocket costs for American consumers will DOUBLE from 2.5 percent in 2011 to 5.1 percent in 2021.

Annual growth in spending by American businesses will more than DOUBLE from 2.5 percent in 2011 to 5.3% in 2021.

Health care premiums are projected to increase by 7.9 percent in 2014. (More than half of this increase is directly due to the provisions of the health law.)

Massive Government Expansion:

The biggest ever expansion of Medicaid and the implementation of the new trillion dollar federal subsidy program will almost DOUBLE the national health spending from 3.8 percent in 2011 to 7.4 percent in 2014.

Federal health spending will increase seven-fold from 2.6 percent in 2011 to 18.2 percent in 2014. Annual Medicaid spending alone will grow from 6.9 percent in 2011 to 18.0 percent in 2014.

Unsustainable Growth:

National Health spending as a percentage of GDP will grow from 17.9 percent in 2011 to 19.6 percent in 2021. The historical average for all revenue collection as a percentage of GDP stands at 18 percent.

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