Medicare and the Budget

Kaiser Family Foundation (kff.org) has lots of information on Medicare and health care in general.  It’s a great place to find data and analysis on Medicare, Medicaid, and health care reform.

Here is what they have to say about Medicare:

In fiscal year 2010, Medicare spending is expected to total $524 billion, accounting for 20 percent of national health expenditures, 15 percent of the federal budget, and 3.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Medicare is responsible for 20 percent of the $2.6 trillion in total national health care expenditures in the U.S., but 40 percent of the nation’s total home health care spending, 30 percent of hospital spending, and 24 percent of prescription drug costs.

Inpatient hospital services account for the largest share of Medicare benefit payments (27 percent), followed by Medicare Advantage plans (23 percent) and payments to physicians (13 percent).

On an average per capita basis, annual Medicare spending has grown at a slightly smaller rate than annual private health insurance spending.  In 2006, Medicare payments averaged $8,344 for beneficiaries enrolled in the traditional fee-for-service program, but spending is highly skewed, with 10 percent of the population accounting for 58 percent of Medicare spending, averaging $48,210 among those in the top decile of spending.

Average annual growth in Medicare spending is projected to be 5.8 percent between 2012 and 2020, according to CBO, and 5.9 percent between 2010 and 2019, nearly one percentage point lower than projections for this period prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.