The $87.2 billion accounted for 10 percent of the $916.2 billion federal health budget. In addition, Medicaid, the largest program in the children’s health budget since its 1965 inception, accounted for $74 billion.
According to the Urban Institute’s analysis, federal efforts to provide insurance to low-income children is driving the growth in healthcare spending, resulting in a decreased share of uninsured children at a time when uninsurance has been rising among nonelderly adults. The researchers also noted that while federal spending on children’s health is projected to increase between 2015 and 2020, federal spending on children as a share of overall federal health spending will likely decline.
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