National medical care spending

Despite recent reductions in the rate of growth, medical care expenditures are projected to continue to grow. Medical care expenditures are projected to reach $660 billion and consume 11.3 percent of the GNP by 1990. National medical expenditures are projected to grow at an annual average rate of 9.3 percent from 1984 to 1990, a significant decline from earlier periods. Much of the decline is attributed to payment reform. A reason for the continued growth is the aging of the population. From 1985 to 1990, the population over seventy-five years of age is projected to increase 2.8 percent, or four times the annual rate for persons under age sixty-five (.7 percent).