Final answer:
U.S. healthcare spending has been trending upwards over the past decade, largely due to the aging Baby Boom generation. Government spending on healthcare, especially on Medicare, is projected to grow substantially. This is part of a broader upward trend in government spending and taxes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The healthcare spending trend in the United States has shown a consistent upward trend over the past decade. The aging of the Baby Boom cohort, which is a significant portion of the population, has been a major influencing factor.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has projected that healthcare spending will continue to grow by approximately 5.5 percent each year until 2027. As a result, the share of government spending on Medicare is expected to rise from 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 to 8 percent by 2030, and subsequently, to 15 percent by 2080.
Looking at the broader trend, both spending and taxes by the U.S. federal government as well as state and local governments have shown a generally upward trend in the last few decades. This increase reflects in part the rising costs of healthcare, which outpaced inflation significantly between 2000 to 2011. By 2014, healthcare spending constituted about 24% of all federal government spending.
This increase in spending contrasts with the health outcomes in the U.S., which are worse than those seen in other high-income countries, despite higher healthcare expenditure.