The U.S. spent $4.5 trillion on health care in 2022 according to federal figures, a sign the country is settling back into pre-pandemic rates.
Health spending grew by 4.1 percent in 2022, according to data the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released late Wednesday. The U.S. spent on average $13,493 per person on health care 2022.
While still higher than 2021, the growth was much slower when compared to 2020.
In addition, an all-time high of 92 percent of the country was insured in 2022. But that historic number may not last, as it was driven by strong Medicaid enrollment, and the U.S. is unwinding its pandemic-era Medicaid protections.
The 2022 numbers reflected strong growth in Medicaid and private health insurance spending that was somewhat offset by continued declines in federal government spending on COVID-19 relief.
Funding to the health sector through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Provider Relief Fund was $174.6 billion in 2020 but just $2 billion in 2022.
Spending for federal government public health activities peaked in 2020 at $139.3 billion, largely because of increased spending for vaccine development and health facility preparedness, compared with $13.3 billion in 2019, the CMS said. In 2022, such spending amounted to $92 billion, due to additional funding from the American Rescue Plan being spent.
After increasing by 10.6 percent in 2020, total health expenditures grew at a slower rate of 3.2 percent in 2021 as reductions in COVID-19 supplemental funding and public health expenditures partly offset strong growth in the use of health care goods and services.
The 4.1 percent for 2022 is much more in line with 4.4 percent average annual growth pre-pandemic during 2016–2019.
“Health care expenditures since 2020 have reflected volatile patterns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal government’s response to the public health emergency,” said Micah Hartman, a statistician in the CMS Office of the Actuary.
“It remains to be seen how future health care spending trends will materialize, as trends are expected to be driven more by health-specific factors such as medical-specific price inflation, the utilization and intensity of medical care, and the demographic impacts associated with the continuing enrollment of the baby boomers in Medicare,” Hartman said.
Spending grew 2.2 percent for hospital care, 2.7 percent for physician and clinical services and 8.4 percent for retail prescription drugs.
