Medicare accounts for increasing share of federal budget, CBO says

In a report released Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office found that federal spending on major healthcare programs will reach 6.3 percent of the gross domestic product by 2020, up from 4.9 percent this year (Source: "CBO: Federal healthcare costs skyrocketing," The Hill, Nov. 8, 2012).

According to the CBO's latest figures, Medicare makes up about half of the projected spending, with expected costs of more than $700 billion in 2020, or 3.5 percent of GDP. Medicaid clocks in at $514 billion, or 2.3 percent of GDP.

Roughly 0.5 percent of GDP will go toward the Children's Health Insurance Program and subsidies for private insurance under the ACA, CBO said.