In 1970, some 7.5 billion U.S. dollars were spent on the Medicare program in the United States. Fifty plus years later, this figure stood at 1,037 billion U.S. dollars. This statistic depicts total Medicare spending from 1970 to 2023.

Increasing Medicare coverage

Medicare is the federal health insurance program in the U.S. for the elderly and those with disabilities. In the U.S., the share of the population with any type of health insurance has increased to over 90 percent in the past decade. As of 2019, approximately 18 percent of the U.S. population was covered by Medicare in particular.

Increasing Medicare costs

Medicare costs are forecasted to continue increasing over time, with outlays rising to a predicted 1.78 trillion U.S. dollars by 2031 as the population continues to age. Certain diseases of old age, such as Alzheimer’s disease, are increasing in prevalence in the U.S., which will reflect on healthcare costs for the elderly. In 2021, Alzheimer's disease was estimated to cost Medicare and Medicaid around 239 billion U.S. dollars in care costs; by 2050, this number is projected to climb to 798 billion dollars.