Understanding U.S. Health Care Spending

This National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation data brief examines U.S. health care spending, including why the U.S. spends more than $8,000 per person on health care and the factors that drive spending growth.

Using the most recent data from the National Health Expenditure Accounts and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the brief analyzes the extreme concentration of expenditures, with just 5% of the population responsible for almost half of all spending, and demonstrates the importance of rising spending for hospital and physician services as the primary drivers of expenditure growth.