Nursing facilities and continuing care retirement communities accounted for $ 196.8 billion in spending in 2020, driven by COVID-19, according to an office of the actuary of the Centers for Medicare & and Medicaid Services report published by the journal Health affairs. The amount is $ 22.6 billion more than in 2019.

Overall, national health spending changed dramatically in 2020, driven by funding associated with the pandemic, according to the report’s authors. Overall health spending rose 9.7% to $ 4.1 trillion, which is a much faster rate than the 4.3% increase seen in 2019.

“Federal spending grew rapidly in 2020 as the government increased public health spending to fight the pandemic and provided significant assistance to health care providers,” Micah Hartman, statistician in the Office of the United Nations, told reporters. the CMS actuary, at a press conference on Wednesday.

“To give an idea of ​​the magnitude of this funding, if we exclude spending on other federal programs and federal public health spending, the increase in total national health spending would be only 1.9% in 2020, against 9.7% when it is included, ”he added.

Health insurance spending has slowed year over year, with the exception of nursing home care.

“This is explained by the increase in use and expenditure resulting mainly from an exemption which allowed the coverage of qualified nursing services without prior hospital stay,” said Anne B. Martin, economist at the National Health Statistics Group from the Office of the Actuary to CMS.

Primary payers spending in 2020 increased between Medicaid and Medicare, 3.5% and 9.2% respectively, while private spending and direct spending decreased 1.2% and 3.7%, respectively, according to the report.