Federal Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare Subsidies To Increase 85 Percent in 10 Years

On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024.

Ths is the year that spending on major health programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare subsidies, but not VA or military health care) will be greater than spending on Social Security. Back in 1974, federal spending on its major health programs accounted for 1.0 percent of GDP, while spending on defense (which is actually delegated to the federal government in the Constitution) was 5.4 percent of GDP. In 2024, defense spending will account for only 2.7 percent of GDP — less than half the spending on major health programs.

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.