Yahoo! News - Government Paying Ever More Health Costs -Report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Within a decade, the public sector will be paying nearly half the cost of U.S. health care, which is also swallowing an ever-larger chunk of the nation's resources, government economists reported on Wednesday.

The new Medicare drug benefit for seniors -- which has alarmed lawmakers with its rising cost projections -- is contributing to the shift toward more public funding, said the report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Overall, health spending is seen hitting a record 18.7 percent of U.S. gross domestic product by 2014, up from 15.4 percent in 2004, according to the annual projection of future U.S. health spending.

The public sector's share of these health care costs will reach 49.4 percent by 2014, up from 45.7 percent in 2004, the report said. This includes spending on Medicare, the government health insurance plan for the elderly, as well as federal, state and local spending on the Medicaid program for the poor.

We are heading towards government run health care whether we want it or not. As insurance becomes more expensive, pushing more people off the private roles, Medicaid/Medicare use will soar. I can foresee a time when treatment will be denied because of cost. Already in Michigan people who have been denied dental care have ended up in the emergency rooms. Will we go the same way with general health care also?