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February 16, 2017 at 12:33 PM
U.S. private health insurers might spend about $1.2 trillion this year, or 5.7 percent more than they spent in 2016.
Total health care spending could increase 5.4 percent, to $3.5 trillion, or about 18.3 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Private insurers might have $235 billion left over after paying claims, or 8.7 percent more sales, administration, taxes and profits than they had in 2016.
Related: Annual health costs seen hitting $4.3 trillion by 2017, report finds
Sean Keehan and other analysts at the Office of the Actuary, part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, have included these figures in a new set of national health expenditure projections, for the period from 2016 through 2015.
The report is behind a paywall on the website of Health Affairs, an academic journal that focuses on health care delivery and health care finance systems. The actuaries prepare the projections each year to help government officials, private insurers, employers and others plan health care programs.
The projections for 2025 show that the country spend about $5.5 trillion, and 19.9 percent of GDP, on health care in 2025.
The analysts assume when they prepare the projections that continue laws will stay in place, and they include projections for the cost both of acute health care and long-term care.
