The federal government reported $4.5 trillion in 2022 healthcare spending, back to pre-pandemic levels.
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Healthcare Spending in 2022, 4% Increase Reflecting Pandemic Impact and Federal Response
In 2022, healthcare spending rose just over 4% after a drop and a big surge in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. CMS reported health care spending rise of 4.2% to 4.6% from the four years before the outbreak. This follows 2020’s unpredictable 10.6% growth and 2021’s 3.2% health spending increase.
The trend shows COVID-19’s massive influence and federal response. Healthcare accounted for 17.3% of the economy in 2022, down from 19.5% in the first year of the pandemic because of lower spending growth.
Prescription drugs accounted for 9% of healthcare costs. Retail drug spending rose 8.4% to $405.9 billion in 2022. The Biden administration tried to lower prescription medicine prices, but prices climbed faster.
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Medicaid and ACA Drive Enrollment Surge
Due to pandemic-related Medicaid expansion and Affordable Care Act expansion, 92% of Americans had health insurance in 2022, a record level. Medicaid enrollment reached 6.1 million in 2022, while spending grew 9.6% to $805.7 billion. Medicare spending rose 5.9% to $944.3 billion.
ACA marketplace enrollment rose by 1.7 million, and employer-sponsored insurance enrollment rose by 1.5 million, the largest since 2015. Medicare/private insurance premiums rose 5.9%. Copayments and unreimbursed medical costs grew by 6.6%.
Healthcare industry stability and pandemic resistance are shown by pre-epidemic growth rates.
