Priceof health

What Americans spend on health care—and what we get for the money
THE GROWING RANKS
OF THE UNINSURED
In 1999 the official tally of Americans
without health insurance dropped
sharply, in part because the Census
Bureau changed the way it counted
FOLLOWING THE MONEY When you SPENDING ON THE RISE them. But their numbers are rising
itemize the national health bill, you find that govern- We already devote more than 14% of again. At last count, as of March 2002,
ment programs are our biggest source of funds and our GDP to health care. Even though 41 million people had been uninsured
hospital costs far and away top our spending. the rate of growth is expected to slow, for a full year.
by 2012 that figure may top 17%. 50 (millions)
WHO PAYS FOR HEALTH CARE WHERE THE MONEY GOES
20 %
5% NATIONAL SPENDING
ON HEALTH CARE 45
13% 18% (percent of GDP)
35% 5% 32%
15
14% 6% 40
7%
16% 17% 10% 22%
10
35
NUMBER OF
Private insurance Hospital care UNINSURED AMERICANS

PROJECTED
Medicare Physician and 5
clinical services 30
Medicaid and State
Children’s Health Prescription drugs
Insurance Program Nursing-home care ’60 ’70 ’80 ’90 ’00 ’10 ’87 ’89 ’91 ’93 ’95 ’97 ’99 ’01
Out of pocket Administrative
Other public spending1 expenses Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey.
Other private spending Dental
Other2

Notes: As of 2001. 1Includes workers’ compensation, public health,

Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian
Health Service spending. 2Includes other professional services, home
care, durable medical products, over-the-counter medications, public
13.9 monthly premiums for
% was the average increase in
employer plans from spring 2002 to 2003
health, research and construction.
Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation.

HOW THE U.S. COMPARES By some standards of health United States

and well-being, we are unremarkable. Our average life expectancy 13%
lags that of many other developed nations, and access to basic care,
measured by the number of acute-care hospital days, is typical. But
higher prices and heavy use of technology mean that we devote far 12

more of our economy to health care than other nations do; Switzerland

PERCENT OF GDP SPENT ON HEALTH CARE

fortunately, our economy is also bigger than most.
11
Germany

Canada
ACUTE-CARE
HOSPITAL DAYS 10
(annually, per capita) Belgium
Greece France
Portugal Iceland
1.5 to 2.0
Nether- Australia 9
1.0 to 1.4 lands Norway Sweden
Denmark
0.5 to 0.9
New Zealand Italy
Less than 0.5 Austria
Czech Republic 8
Not available United Kingdom Japan
Spain

PER CAPITA GDP Finland

7
$50,000 Mexico Ireland
$40,000 Hungary
$30,000
Poland South
$20,000 Korea 6
$10,000 Luxembourg
Slovak Republic

Turkey 5

69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82
AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY
Notes: Data are most recent available. Life expectancy is for a newborn. Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

MONEY Fall 2003 17