An Analysis of the US National Health Expenditure Report

January 2020

Authors

Achilles Natsis, FSA, MAAA, SOA Health Research Actuary, Society of Actuaries

Executive Summary

This report reviews the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) National Health Expenditure (NHE) release updated with 2018 data and compares 2018 results to historical NHE experience and to CMS projections published in early 2019. It summarizes overall 2018 spending growth (4.6%), key drivers by payer and service category, per-enrollee and per-capita changes, and related indicators such as uninsured levels and health spending as a share of GDP. The report concludes that NHE data can help actuaries benchmark company trends against national experience and monitor whether health cost growth is aligning more closely with nominal GDP over time.

Materials

An Analysis of the US National Health Expenditure Report

Suggested Citation

Natsis, Achilles. An Analysis of the US National Health Expenditure Report. Society of Actuaries Research Institute, January 2020. https://www.soa.org/resources/research-reports/2026/us-national-health-expenditure/

Questions or Comments?

Give us your feedback! Take a short survey on this report. Take Survey

If you have comments or questions, please send an email to Research@soa.org