GDP and Health Entitlement

The economist and columnist Robert J. Samuelson warns that health entitlements are consuming more GDP. He says of Social Security, Medicare and other health programs that their share of spending have grown over time. "In 2000, these programs represented roughly 7 percent of GDP (4 percent for Social Security, 3.1 percent for health care). That was nearly half of all government spending, excluding interest on the federal debt. By 2017, their share was more that half of non-interest spending at more than 10 percent of GDP (4.9 percent Social Security, 5.5 percent health care).

Looking ahead and considering the floodtide of baby-boom retirees and the high cost of health care, the CBO sees more of the same. By 2037, Social Security and federal health programs would absorb nearly 14 percent of GDP, or about one-seventh of national income." [1]

From 2000 to 2037, the CBO projects, Social Security and health spending will absorb all the increase in federal spending (as a share of GDP).

The budget outlook is worse than these figures suggest, as we're already running annual deficits of  about $500 billion, roughly 3 percent of GDP.

ADDENDUMS:
*"I do not believe health care is a basic human right," Rep. Raul Labrador (R- Idaho), told a town hall meeting earlier this year.

*Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala) likes the idea of requiring those "who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool, "which would have the effect of "reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they're healthy."

*Damien Schiff, nominated to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, has likened EPA regulations to slavery; said that due process has been "sullied by the Left," because of pro-LGBTQ decisions; and has written that pro-affirmative action rulings are similar to cases that upheld slavery and school segregation. He has also called Justice Anthony Kennedy a "judicial prostitute" and criticized a school's efforts to prevent bullying of LGBTQ students as "teaching gayness.' Schiff supports overruling what he calls the "unconstitutional excrescences of the New Deal and Great Society."

*John K. Bush,nominated to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, has compared Roe v. Wade to the Dred Scott  decision, which upheld slavery. He has also contended that there should be "more money, not less" spent in elections. Bush's blog posts cite right wing sources like World Net Daily and disparagingly refer to President Obama as "Barry."

Footnote
[1] Robert J. Samuelson, "Health entitlements consuming more GDP," Albuquerque Journal, May 6, 2017.