U.S. healthcare spending rose 4% in 2022, federal data shows

Healthcare spending in the United States rose 4.1% in 2022 to $4.5 trillion, federal data showed on Wednesday (Source: “U.S. healthcare spending rises to $4.5 trillion in 2022,” Reuters, Dec. 13).
 
The growth was driven by spending on Medicaid and private health insurance, with the insured share of the population surging to a historic high of 92%, data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showed.

The number of uninsured individuals declined for the third straight year to 26.6 million from 28.5 million in 2021.
 
The rate of growth, officials said, indicated a return to pre-pandemic patterns after two years of volatility. Spending on healthcare surged 10.6% in 2020, and then declined dramatically to 3.2% in the following year.