Health care spending is surging just as Trump's tax cuts crippled its funding | Fortune

"Federal health care spending has reached a historic turning point. It is now the single largest category of federal expenditures, having surpassed other spending categories including Social Security, national defense and interest payments made to chip away at the national debt. If current trajectories hold, health will be eating up an enormous share of the country's spending for years to come."

"The government is on track to spend over $26 trillion on major health programs through 2036, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's review of the country's most recent fiscal outlook. The surge will be led by Medicare, which is projected to double in cost from $988 billion in 2025 to almost $2 trillion by 2036."

"This explosive growth in spending coincides with a dramatic deterioration in the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which covers essential inpatient hospital and nursing facility care. That fund will now be exhausted by 2040, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a staggering 12 years ahead of the date projected just last year."

Federal health care spending has surpassed Social Security, national defense, and interest payments to become the largest category of federal expenditures. The government is projected to spend over $26 trillion on major health programs through 2036. Medicare costs are expected to double from $988 billion in 2025 to nearly $2 trillion by 2036. Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program spending will grow 36%, while Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies will increase by one-third. The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2040, twelve years earlier than previously projected. This growth stems from higher medical costs and reduced revenue from tax policy changes, threatening to crowd out other federal spending and destabilize safety nets.

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