Economy

Health Care Industry Shows Resilience in 2025—What’s Ahead for 2026

Challenges remain, as U.S. health systems are facing a ‘financial trifecta,’ according to Kaufman Hall’s 2025 Health System Performance Outlook.
Health Care Industry Shows Resilience in 2025—What’s Ahead for 2026
An older couple review information with a health care practitioner in this file photo. Shutterstock
Panos Mourdoukoutas
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The U.S. health care industry closed the year with strong growth, even as mounting challenges continued to pressure profit margins across the sector, particularly for providers.

National health expenditures are projected to increase by 7.1 percent in 2025, slightly below the estimated 8.2 percent growth rate in 2024, according to a report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Spending growth is expected to moderate further to 5.6 percent in 2026, still well above the nation’s long-term gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate.

Spending and Cost

Health care spending, which now accounts for nearly 20 percent of the U.S. GDP, has shown notable resilience, reflecting sustained growth in health care goods and services, driven by a combination of demand- and supply-side factors.
Panos Mourdoukoutas
Panos Mourdoukoutas
Author
Panos Mourdoukoutas is a professor of economics at Long Island University in New York City. He also teaches security analysis at Columbia University. He’s been published in professional journals and magazines, including Forbes, Investopedia, Barron's, IBT, and Journal of Financial Research. He’s also the author of many books, including “Business Strategy in a Semiglobal Economy” and “China's Challenge.”