US Population Aging And Expansion Of Federal Healthcare Programs Will Be Major Causes of Increase Federal Spending On Healthcare Over Next Decade: Increase In Medical Cost Per Person Will Not Be A Major Cause Of Increase Government Spending On Healthcare

From Presentation by CBO’s Deputy Assistant Director for Health, Jessica Banthin, Ph.D., to the Joint Network on the Fiscal Sustainability of Health Systems, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, France, "The Long-Term Costs of Major Health Care Programs: Fiscal Implications and Projection Methods" February 18, 2015:

The Long-Term Costs of Major Health Care Programs: Fiscal Implications and Projection Methods from Congressional Budget Office

As can be seen below from Slide 12 of the above presentation, expansion of federal healthcare programs and aging of the population are the major drivers of increased US government spending on healthcare over the next decade. The increase in spending on an individual user of healthcare, whether due to new technology, increase testing, or malpractice avoidance, accounts for a very small part of the increasing cost of US federal healthcare programs over the next decade.

Slide 12:

CBO's suggestions, Slide 13 below, for reducing the federal government's spending on healthcare: