Spending on health care in Georgia remains below the national average, even though it has increased at a relatively fast clip, according to a new report in HealthAffairs.
According to the report, Georgia spent $10,429 per Medicare enrollee, $5,199 per Medicaid enrollee, and $4,406 per enrollee in personal health insurance. That puts Georgia lower than states such as Louisiana and Missouri in all of those three spending categories.
The figures are for 2014, the last year for which the data were available.
Georgia’s spending was low, but it ramped up from an even lower starting point. “Georgia and Idaho exhibited per capita spending levels that were among the lowest but per capita spending growth rates for 2010–14 that were among the highest,” the report found.
In the U.S. overall, some trends were evident. One was that the baby boom generation started to enroll in Medicare, increasing spending from that program.
Funding the needs of that generation as they age out of the workforce will be a major challenge for taxpayers.
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