Spending for health care in the United States rose to $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 4.1% over spending in 2021, according to data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary. The rate of increase in 2022 was faster than the increase of 3.2% in 2021, but much slower than the rate of 10.6% in 2020. The growth in 2022 reflected strong growth in Medicaid and private health insurance spending that was offset by reductions in federal supplemental funding for the COVID-19 pandemic.
For journalists, the actuary’s report is useful because it shows health spending by type of service and the source of funding. The largest share of costs (30%) went to hospital care, increasing by 2.2% in 2022 to reach $1.4 trillion, the report showed. This growth rate was slower than the 4.5% rate of increase the actuary reported in 2021. Private health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid all reported a decline in payments for hospital care, the actuary noted.
The second largest share of costs (20%) went to physicians and clinical services, which rose by 2.7% to $884.9 billion in 2022, slower than the increase of 5.3% in 2021. Retail spending for prescription drugs was third largest at 9%, increasing 8.4% to $405.9 billion in 2022, a faster rate than in 2021 when spending increased by 6.8%. Other health, residential, and personal care services accounted for 6% of spending; nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities accounted for 4% of costs; dental care also was 4% of costs, followed by home health care at 3%, the report showed.
Who paid for care?
Another fact important for journalists is that patients’ out-of-pocket costs accounted for 11% of all spending on health care in the United States, increasing by 6.6% in 2022 to $471.4 billion, the report noted.
Private health insurers paid for 29% of all health care in 2022, an increase of 5.9% over spending in 2021 to reach $1.3 trillion, the report showed. Medicare was second at 21%, increasing by 5.9% to $944.3 billion in 2022. Medicaid covered 18% of all costs, increasing by 9.6% to $805.7 billion in 2022. Patients’ out-of-pocket costs accounted for 11% of spending, increasing by 6.6% in 2022 to $471.4 billion, the report noted.
For more information on CMS’ actuarial data, this announcement from KFF is useful: “Updated Health Spending Explorer Features the Latest National Data on How Much People Spend and Who Pays the Bills.” Also, the KFF report, “National Health Spending Explorer,” includes historical spending data back to 1960 and graphic representations of the data from each year, including 2022.