The last two years have seen two notable events for the U.S. health care industry. In 2014, the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to the largest expansion of health insurance coverage since 1965, and in 2015 the Medicare and Medicaid programs reached their 50th anniversary. These two important milestones provide an opportunity to reflect on the significant changes that have taken place in the nation’s health sector over the last half century.
Since 1960, there have been dramatic changes in how health care is provided, consumed, and financed. Using data from the National Health Expenditure Accounts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary recently explored the broad trends and specific eras that have marked these changes, as shown in Table 1. This analysis, “History of Health Spending in the United States, 1960-2013,” is available on the CMS website.
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