CMS Office of the Actuary last week released data on...

...national health spending for 2017, pointing to overall cost growth of 3.9%. Medicare spending grew 4.2% to $705.9 billion, about the same rate as 2016. The agency saw slower year-over-year growth in fee-for-service Medicare (1.4% vs. 2.6% in 2016), a result of more people enrolling in Medicare Advantage plans (up 10% vs 8.1% in 2016). For 2018, year-over-year Medicare fee-for-service lives are down 1.8% to 33.5 million, and Medicare Advantage is up 3.2% to 18.6 million.