Your window into government spending 

The sixth annual USAFacts Government 10-K is here. A central source for details on the programs the government enacts, cuts, and extends, this report helps citizens judge the state of the nation. It uses government numbers and only government numbers. This document is modeled on the required form for assessing performance, financial condition, and risk factors that publicly traded US companies annually submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

USAFacts combined data from more than 90,000 different government entities for this 10-K. Here is just a sample of what you’ll find in this year’s report:
 

Costs of many programs are rising faster than enrollment

The number of people enrolled in many government programs rose over the decade — but program costs outpaced enrollee growth. Enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (or CHIP) grew by 48% between 2009 and 2019. Yet, Medicaid and CHIP payments rose 90%, up by $298 billion.

Life expectancy dropped by more than a year

US life expectancy fell by 1.8 years by the end of 2020. Increased deaths from COVID-19, heart disease, homicide, and diabetes led to the decrease, but Americans faced troubling health issues before the pandemic. Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in 2019, up 30% from a decade before. The rates at which Americans died from heroin use (up 367% from 2009) and other synthetic narcotic use (up 1,100% from 2009) increased by much more than the nation’s leading causes of death.

We're becoming more educated — but there's a catch 

More students who opt for college are graduating. The graduation rate at four-year institutions rose from 58% in 2009 to 63% in 2019 and from 28% in 2014 (the most recent year for which data is available) to 36% in 2019 for two-year institutions.