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Analysis by Altarum Institute’s Center for Studying Health Spending indicates that health spending in January 2011 grew by 4.4% compared to January 2011, marking the 28^th consecutive month of historically low growth. This healthcare spending increase to $2.64 trillion accounted for 17.7% of GDP.   Noteably, in the prior year, separate National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) data, indicates that the percentage of GDP spent on healthcare in 2009 had jumped to 17.3% from 16.2% in 2008, the largest one-year increase since 1960. At the current rate of growth, healthcare costs are predicted to nearly double to $4.5 trillion in 2019.  At that point, NHEA data indicates healthcare costs will account for 19.3%, or roughly one-fifth, of GDP.

Altarum Institute is a nonprofit health systems research and consulting organization.   The NHEA are the official measurements of US expenditures for healthcare goods and services published by CMS and since 1960 have been the official estimates of total national healthcare spending.  NHEA data are presented by type of service, sources of funding and sponsors. Through its Office of the Actuary, CMS releases each year projections of healthcare spending for those same categories as are measured in the NHEA.  

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The National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) are published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and are the official estimates of total national healthcare spending.  CMS began releasing the NHEA in 1960. The NHEA measures annual U.S. expenditures for healthcare goods and services, public health activities, program administration, the net cost of private insurance, and research and other investment related to healthcare. The data are presented by type of service, sources of funding and sponsors.

According to CMS, U.S. healthcare spending continued to grow in 2008, increasing 4.4 percent compared to 6.0 percent in 2007. This increase was the lowest in healthcare spending since 1980. Total health expenditures reached $2.3 trillion, which translates to $7,681 per person or 16.2 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Data for 2009 has not yet been released.

Through its Office of the Actuary, CMS releases each year projections of healthcare spending for those same categories as are measured in the NHEA.

An overview of NHEA and projection methodologies can be found on the CMS website as well as NHEA historical data. Also available from CMS are the actuarial projections .

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