The growth of spending on nursing home services and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) slowed a bit in 2018, increasing by 1.4% to $168.5 billion. That compares to spending growth of 2% in 2017, according to the latest figures released by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The agency attributed the slower growth to “slower spending growth in private health insurance spending and a decline in Medicaid spending.” Overall, spending on nursing and CCRC services made up 5% of the total U.S. healthcare spending in 2018.
Healthcare spending increased 4.6% to reach $3.6 trillion in 2018, which was faster than 2017 when spending increased 4.2%.
“The faster growth in 2018 was associated with faster growth in the net cost of health insurance, which increased 13.2 percent following growth of 4.3 percent in 2017, due primarily to the reinstatement of the health insurance tax in 2018,” the report stated.
Spending on hospital care reached $1.2 trillion and made up 33% of total healthcare spending in 2018.
Additionally, spending on home health care services reached $102.2 billion, an increase of 5.2%, which was a higher rate than 2017’s 4.5%. Medicare and Medicaid made up 75% of home health spending in 2018, the report stated.
