The U.S. spent $4.9 trillion on health care in 2023 — a 7.5% increase from 2022 — the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported Dec. 18 in Health Affairs. The report cited increases in service utilization and intensity as primary drivers of the growth. Hospital spending increased 10.4%, driven by higher patient acuity and post-pandemic rebounds in hospital volumes. However, hospital price growth remained stable at 2.7% compared to 2.8% in 2022 and was lower than the rate of general inflation.  
  
Prescription drug spending increased 11.4%, mostly due to rapid growth in diabetes and obesity treatments and faster growth in retail prescription drug prices, the report found.