CBO lowers 10-year Medicare, Medicaid spending projections

Spending on Medicare and Medicaid programs has been lower than anticipated for the past three years, prompting the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to adjust its projections for the next decade, according to a report released Tuesday.

Medicare spending had an average annual growth of 8.4 percent between 2002 and 2009, but has dropped to only 2.9 percent annually since 2009, the report notes. The CBO’s updated estimates suggest the spending amounts will remain near 3 percent until 2019, when spending is expected to increase to 3.5 percent during 2019-2023.

Medicaid spending also is expected to be approximately 5.5 percent lower (about $236 billion less) than originally projected. Much of the per-beneficiary spending reductions, however, are tied to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion initiatives and the assumptions that savings will balance out the costs of setting up the programs.

The CBO report estimates that Medicaid will have 12 million beneficiaries by 2022.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.