Health Care Spending and Costs Will Continue to Rise

Health care costs continue to rise in the U.S. and throughout the developed world. Total U.S. health care expenditures were estimated to be $3.09 trillion in 2014, and are projected to soar to $3.57 trillion in 2017.

The health care market in the U.S. in 2014 included the major categories of hospital care ($959.9 billion), physician and clinical services ($618.5 billion), dental services ($122.4 billion) and prescription drugs ($290.7 billion), along with nursing home and home health care ($248.5 billion).

Medicare, the U.S. federal government’s health care program for Americans 65 years or older, provided coverage to an estimated 54.0 million seniors in 2014. National expenditures on Medicare for fiscal 2014 were projected to be $615.9 billion, including premiums paid by beneficiaries. By 2030, the number of people covered by Medicare will balloon to about 81.4 million due to the massive number of Baby Boomers entering retirement age.

Medicaid is the federal government’s health care program for low-income and disabled persons (including children) as well as certain groups of seniors in nursing homes. National expenditures on Medicaid totaled an estimated $508.0 billion in 2014. The majority of that expense is paid for by the federal government. However, the states pick up a significant share of the cost, which is a massive burden on state budgets.

Health spending in the U.S., at about 18% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014, is projected to grow steadily. Health care spending in America accounts for a larger share of GDP than in any other country by a wide margin. Despite the incredible investment America continues to make in health care, 13.4% of people in the U.S. (42.0 million) lacked health care coverage for the entire year of 2013 (down from 48.0 million the previous year). For some, insurance was unavailable or unaffordable. In other cases, a lack of insurance was due to a personal decision not to pay for it.

For more data and statistics on the Health Care industry, see https://www.plunkettresearch.com/health-care-medical-market-research/industry-and-business-data
 

Plunkett’s Health Care Industry Almanac 2015 Edition
717 Pages
Print ISBN: 978-1-62831-344-4
Price: 349.99
Published Date: November 2014