National Health Care Spending In 2019: Steady Growth For The Fourth Consecutive Year.

US health care spending increased 4.6 percent to reach $3.8 trillion in 2019, similar to the rate of growth of 4.7 percent in 2018. The share of the economy devoted to health care spending was 17.7 percent in 2019 compared with 17.6 percent in 2018. In 2019 faster growth in spending for hospital care, physician and clinical services, and retail purchases of prescription drugs-which together accounted for 61 percent of total national health spending-was offset mainly by expenditures for the net cost of health insurance, which were lower because of the suspension of the health insurance tax in 2019.

Health Spending By State 1991-2014: Measuring Per Capita Spending By Payers And Programs.

As the US health sector evolves and changes, it is informative to estimate and analyze health spending trends at the state level. These estimates, which provide information about consumption of health care by residents of a state, serve as a baseline for state and national-level policy discussions. This study examines per capita health spending by state of residence and per enrollee spending for the three largest payers (Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance) through 2014. Moreover, it discusses in detail the impacts of the Affordable Care Act implementation and the most recent economic recession and recovery on health spending at the state level. According to this analysis, these factors affected overall annual growth in state health spending and the payers and programs that paid for that care. They did not, however, substantially change state rankings based on per capita spending levels over the period.

National health spending in 2013: growth slows, remains in step with the overall economy.

In 2013 US health care spending increased 3.6 percent to $2.9 trillion, or $9,255 per person. The share of gross domestic product devoted to health care spending has remained at 17.4 percent since 2009. Health care spending decelerated 0.5 percentage point in 2013, compared to 2012, as a result of slower growth in private health insurance and Medicare spending. Slower growth in spending for hospital care, investments in medical structures and equipment, and spending for physician and clinical care also contributed to the low overall increase.

US health spending trends by age and gender: selected years 2002-10.

This article presents estimates of personal health care spending by age and gender in selected years during the period 2002-10 and an analysis of the variation in spending among children, working-age adults, and the elderly. Our research found that in this period, aggregate spending on children's health care increased at the slowest rate. However, per capita spending for children grew more rapidly than that for working-age adults and the elderly. Per capita spending for the elderly remained about five times higher than spending for children. Overall, females spent more per capita than males, but the gap had decreased by 2010. The implementation of Medicare Part D, the effects of the recent recession, and the aging of the baby boomers affected the spending trends and distributions during the period of this study.

Growth in US health spending remained slow in 2010; health share of gross domestic product was unchanged from 2009.

Medical goods and services are generally viewed as necessities. Even so, the latest recession had a dramatic effect on their utilization. US health spending grew more slowly in 2009 and 2010-at rates of 3.8 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively-than in any other years during the fifty-one-year history of the National Health Expenditure Accounts. In 2010 extraordinarily slow growth in the use and intensity of services led to slower growth in spending for personal health care. The rates of growth in overall US gross domestic product (GDP) and in health spending began to converge in 2010. As a result, the health spending share of GDP stabilized at 17.9 percent.

Recession contributes to slowest annual rate of increase in health spending in five decades.

In 2009, US health care spending grew 4.0 percent--a historically low rate of annual increase--to $2.5 trillion, or $8,086 per person. Despite the slower growth, the share of the gross domestic product devoted to health spending increased to 17.6 percent in 2009 from 16.6 percent in 2008. The growth rate of health spending continued to outpace the growth of the overall economy, which experienced its largest drop since 1938. The recession contributed to slower growth in private health insurance spending and out-of-pocket spending by consumers, as well as a reduction in capital investments by health care providers. The recession also placed increased burdens on households, businesses, and governments, which meant that fewer financial resources were available to pay for health care. Declining federal revenues and strong growth in federal health spending increased the health spending share of total federal revenue from 37.6 percent in 2008 to 54.2 percent in 2009.

U.S. Health spending by age, selected years through 2004.

This paper examines variations in health spending by children, working-age adults, and seniors for selected years between 1987 and 2004. Seniors spent far more per person than children or working-age adults, but the relative gap between the age groups has not changed much since 1987 except for those age eighty-five and older. Since the inception of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997, the proportion of children's health spending financed by public sources has increased, while the share paid for out of pocket has decreased. The future age-mix is expected to have a major impact on nursing home spending growth while minimally affecting overall Medicare spending growth.