Growth of mandatory spending
CBO projects that spending for Social Security, Healthcare programs and interest costs will rise relative to GDP over the 2015-2025 period, while defense and other discretionary spending will decline relative to GDP.[SUP]
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Over the past 40 years, mandatory spending for programs such as Medicare and Social Security has grown as a share of the budget and relative to GDP, while other discretionary categories have declined. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security grew from 4.3% of GDP in 1971 to 10.1% of GDP in 2012.[SUP]
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In the long-run, expenditures related to
Social Security,
Medicare and
Medicaid are growing considerably faster than the economy overall as the population matures.[SUP]
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[5][/SUP] The
Congressional Budget Office estimates that Social Security spending will rise from 4.8% of GDP in 2009 to 6.2% of GDP by 2035, where it will stabilize. However, CBO expects Medicare and Medicaid to continue growing, rising from 5.3% GDP in 2009 to 10.0% in 2035 and 19.0% by 2082. CBO has indicated healthcare spending per beneficiary is the primary long-term fiscal challenge.[SUP]
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[7][/SUP] Further, multiple government and private sources have indicated the overall expenditure path is unsustainable.[SUP]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expen...s_federal_budget#Growth_of_mandatory_spending