While growth in overall healthcare spending is slowing, the burden of healthcare costs has moved to the middle class, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Between 2014 and 2019, the U.S. could spend $2.6 trillion less on healthcare than initially projected upon the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Researchers affiliated with the Urban Institute found signs that health spending spiked in 2014, but also discovered spending growth has slowed since. The new estimate is up from April 2015, when the Urban Institute estimated cumulative projected spending for 2014 to 2019 fell by $2.5 trillion.
However, middle-class households find more of their healthcare costs come of their own pockets, according to the article.
The Wall Street Journal cites a June Brookings Institution study, which found middle-income households now allocate the biggest portion of their spending to healthcare, 8.9 percent, a rise of more than three percentage points from 1984 to 2014. Additionally, an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by Brookings senior fellow Diane Schanzenbach found that by 2014, middle-income households spent 25 percent more on healthcare than what they were spending before the recession that began in 2007, the article states. This happened even as spending fell for food, housing, clothing and transportation.
Economists said the middle class' dominant role in healthcare spending may be partially responsible for a broader moderation in health spending, as they use healthcare more judiciously, reports The Wall Street Journal.