Spending on continuing care retirement communities and nursing care facility services increased 1.4% in 2018 to $168.5 billion, according to an analysis from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Thursday in the journal Health Affairs.
The growth rate marks a decrease from the rate of 2% seen the previous year. CCRCs and nursing homes were among the services that experienced slower growth in the use and intensity of services in 2018, the authors said. Home healthcare, hospital care, physician and clinical services, and dental services were among the others.
Expenses for “other health, residential and personal care” were $191.6 billion in 2018. Spending on such services grew 4.6% in 2018, a decrease from the rate of 5.5% in 2017.
Overall, healthcare spending increased 4.6% in 2018, faster than in 2017 but equal to the rate in 2016. In 2018, the share of the economy devoted to healthcare spending, as measured by the gross domestic product, declined to 17.7% from 17.9% in 2017.
Overall spending increased to $3.6 trillion, or $11,172 per person.
Medicaid expenditures reached $597.4 billion in 2018, accounting for 16% of total national health expenditures. Medicaid spending growth increased 3% in 2018, following growth of 2.6% in 2017.
Medicare spending reached $750.2 billion in 2018, accounting for 21% of total healthcare expenditures.
