Keith Hall, director of the Congressional Budget Office, has said CBO predicts the U.S. budget deficit to grow over the next 10 years if current laws remain unchanged.
Hall said in a statement published Tuesday that increasing interest payments on government’s debt, rise in healthcare program and retirement spending and growth in revenue collections are the main trends that would drive up the federal budget deficit from 2017 to 2027.
He noted that CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate federal spending for an average of 12 million people made eligible for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act to reach $70 billion in 2017.
CBO projects federal subsidies for approximately 9 million people with insurance coverage purchased through the marketplaces to hit $45 billion this year.
Hall said federal spending on expanded Medicaid coverage and subsidized insurance bought through the marketplaces would total $1.9 trillion between 2018 and 2027.
CBO also forecasts the country’s gross domestic product to increase at an average rate of 2.1 percent per year over the next two years, Hall added.
