Washington (eCanadaNow) - According to a new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spending on health care will double by the year 2017.

According to the report, by the year 2017, health care spending will reach $4.3 trillion.  This will account for 19.5% of the gross domestic product in the U.S..

They projected the next 10 years of spending on healthc are to come to this number.  They stated that the annual growth in health spending will be higher than the actual annual growth of the overall economy.

The health care spending is projected for 2007 to be at 16.3% of the GDP.  In 2017 the number is going to jump to 19.5%.

Health care spending is expected to outpace the GDP by an annual average of 1.9 percentage points.

The report has been published in the journal Health Affairs.

It is expected that a big reason for the increased health care spending is due to baby boomers getting older.