Over the past few months, Americans have been spending more on doctors and hospital care. In fact, they have been spending so much that the healthcare spending is currently responsible for a boost in the growth of the entire US economy.



GDP, the measure of the economy's growth, was disappointing last month, and many economists blamed it on the weather.



But there was one bright spot: people are paying for healthcare, and a lot of it. Republicans may hate hearing this, but it has to be said: you can thank Obamacare.

"Obamacare is boosting consumption," says Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.



The sharp increase in health care spending can be attributed to the opening of the insurance exchanges, he said, adding that there has been a 9.9% leap in spending on healthcare services. In fact, if it weren't for Obamacare, the US economy would be shrinking right now.



"If healthcare spending had been unchanged, the headline GDP growth number would have been -1.0%."

The growth in healthcare spending has been gradual. Spending on doctors and hospitals increased as early as last fall, when the health care exchanges were first rolled out. According to Shepherdson, both doctor and hospital spending "are now running at more than twice their pre-Obamacare trend, indicating that pent-up/hidden demand for health care was huge".

There has been a surge in spending on doctor and hospital services in recent months. Chart courtesy of Ian Shepherdson, Pantheon Macroeconomics Photograph: Pantheon Macroeconomics

About 4% of US adults make up the newly insured, according to Gallup. About half of them at 2.1% purchased their plans through the exchanges. Some, like Clarissa Leon, have not been to a doctor in years.



"I haven't been to a doctor in five years. I haven't gotten to the dentist," she said. As a result, after signing up for insurance there might be a period of time during which these newly insured Americans go through all of the routine doctor check-ups.

Many of the plans purchased through the healthcare exchanges set up under Affordable Care Act came with deductibles.

These deductibles, up to $6,000 in some cases, mean that those newly insured will have to cover significant portion of their health expenses out of pocket before their coverage kicks in. For others, their healthcare maintenance costs, like asthma inhalers and migraine medicine, are not covered by their plans. Over the span of months or a year, these costs can add up and boost the GDP.

What remains to be seen is how long this can last. Obamacare clearly inspired a boom in newly health-conscious Americans, but there's a lot of work to be done. There are still 31 million uninsured Americans. With penalties for being uninsured set to increase each year, some predict that more Americans will eventually be forced to sign up for insurance in the future. According to Gallup, when the potential fines increase to $500, the percentage of Americans saying they would get insurance jumps to 60%.



That's a lot more healthcare spending to look forward to. And for Obamacare, the embattled program that fought hard to get just seven million Americans to sign up, it's also a sign of a wider impact from the legislation. America is finally doing something about its health, which is among the worst in advanced economies. That is likely to have long-reaching effects that help the economy in more ways than just boosting GDP for a month.

