Posted on 07/28/2011 7:53:13 AM PDT by Flightdeck
WASHINGTON -- The nation's health care tab is on track to hit $4.6 trillion in 2020, accounting for about $1 of every $5 in the economy, government number crunchers estimate in a report out Thursday.
How much is that? Including government and private money, health care spending in 2020 will average $13,710 for every man, woman and child, says Medicare's Office of the Actuary.
By comparison, U.S. health care spending this year is projected to top $2.7 trillion, or about $8,650 per capita, roughly $1 of $6 in the economy. Most of that spending is for care for the sickest people.
The report from Medicare economists and statisticians is an annual barometer of a trend that many experts say is unsustainable but doesn't seem to be slowing down. A political compromise over the nation's debt and deficits might succeed in tapping the brakes on health care, but polarized lawmakers have been unable to deliver a deal.
The analysis found that President Obama's health care overhaul would only be a modest contributor to growing costs, even though an additional 30 million people who would be otherwise uninsured stand to gain coverage.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
First of all, Obamacare was supposed to cut health care costs. We all knew that was a joke. But if gubmint analysts admit that Obamacare will contribute to cost increase, even modestly, those of us who can read between the lines know where we stand...
we knew all along that comrade obama’s health care would cause a
crash and burn of the u.s. economy from which our economy and culture would never revive.
it would be the stalinization or cubanization of our country.
“Most of that spending is for care for the sickest people.”
OMG, what do these people expect? Most of the money spent on poor healthy people?
Guess so..
Only a total idiot could write that and believe it.
Comrades, this is where the death panels come in. Anyone with half a brain who can add two plus two can see that.
it’s “deficit neutral” !
Obama has it all planned out.
I want that sourced, even though I already know the crAP is lying out if their teeth.
Get the gov’t out of the healthcare business and costs will go down.
That must be a lie. ObamaCare controls health care costs. /s
these experts can't even tell us where we are today, nobody knows what innovations may happen in the next decade or how it will affect costs. Plus with inflation out of control 4.6 trillion might be the annual earnings of some professional athlete in ten years.
That’s okay; when Obamacare kicks in full-force, they’ll tax us on the “Medical Benefits” as “income”, but ONLY if you have Income.....free-riders won’t get hit, and the minorities and illegals will be covered via OTHER PEOPLE’s MONEY, as always.
On Nation. Under Debt. Indisposable.
With liability and IOUs for all.
That much money does not exist.
The only question is who makes the decision to say "no". It could be the individual, the family, the insurance company or the government.
When the government (ostensibly the people) is paying the bill, the government gets to decide what they will pay for and for whom. When government mandates insurance companies to pay for everything, they will simply pass the cost to the bigger pool until that pool begins to shrink or is taken over by the government.
And, as most folks know, SOME individuals and families will not say no. Some do, some don't.
It's the great challenge of our society and one no society has ever been faced with before.
Maybe we should just work on getting hospital and Doctors to bill true cost.
I figure I have been to my last hospital voluntarily, and hold no illusions about medicare providing anything.
Not unlike when I was a kid, you didn't get health care unless you could pay for it. Too bad I am not an illegal, I guess.
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