A policy analyst agrees with a government forecast on healthcare spending. 

According to a report by the Office of the Actuary in the Health and Human Services Department, spending on healthcare will outpace the nation's overall economic growth over the next decade. The increase is attributed to expanded insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act, more demand and an aging population.

"A lot of this is no surprise because the Baby Boomers – one of our biggest generations – are nearing the age in life when they start to deal with more health problems and more complex health problems," responds Hadley Heath Manning, director of health policy at the Independent Women's Forum

"And I think this is just further evidence," she adds, "that the so-called Affordable Care Act didn't actually do anything to attack the root causes of rising healthcare costs in this country."

Manning adds that Americans have expensive healthcare, which she attributes to a wealthy nation in which people can spend money on healthcare beyond basic necessities like food and shelter. 

"And we see evidence of a dip in healthcare spending during the Great Recession because a lot of people had to put their healthcare dollars aside and say, You know, I'll address that problem when I have more resources," she notes.

Still, Manning says the biggest problem is that the healthcare industry, which is approaching one-fifth of our economy, does not have a real competitive marketplace.

"And the Affordable Care Act basically shifts its money around by taxing and spending a lot more on healthcare but it didn't do anything to address the real root cause of that problem," she claims.