Health Care and Behavioral Economics: A Presentation to the National Academy of Social Insurance

摘要

Put simply, health care costs are the single most important factor influencing the federal governments budget trajectory and they already exert a major influence, larger than most of us perhaps realize, on our paychecks. According to the Congressional Budget Offices (CBOs) projections, without any changes in federal law, total spending on health care will rise from being 16 percent of the economy in 2007 to being 25 percent in 2025 and almost 50 percent in 2082, and net federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid will rise from being 4.1 percent of the economy to being almost 20 percent over the same period. The primary driver of future costs will be the increasing cost for treating each beneficiary, rather than the increased number of older beneficiaries.