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Healthcare Finance

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In 2010, the United States health care spending grew 3.9 percent. The total health care expenditures reached $2.6 trillion, which translates to $8,402 per person or 17.9 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Health care spending plays a major role in shaping our country's health care system. Financing health care influences how people access health care, the types of health care provided, and how the cost of health care is distributed among members of society by income and by health status. The United States has been in a recession for much of the past decade, resulting in higher unemployment and lower incomes for many Americans. (Wikipedia) There are three main reasons why spending in the United States has …show more content…

The total Medicaid spending grew 7.2 percent in 2010 to $401.4 billion. Federal Medicaid expenditures increased 8.9 percent, while state Medicaid expenditures grew 3.9 percent. This difference in growth was due to approximately $41 billion in enhanced federal aid to states—a result of increased Federal Medical Assistance Percentages mandated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. (Wikipedia) Health care spending has increased over the past decade, in which has contributed to the United States deficit. In the years to come it seems as it’s only going to worse. In order to ensure that U.S. citizens have affordable and accessible health care, the government has stepped in. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The goal of the healthcare reform is to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to all American citizens. This package will cost roughly $940 billion over 10 years to provide expanded insurance coverage, according to Congressional Budget Office. The plan is expected to reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the first 10 years. And over the following decade, the health reform could reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion. The estimated long-term deficit reduction comes mainly from

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