Price of Health

Price of health 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 them. But their numbers are rising again. At last count, as of March 2002, 41 million people had been uninsured for a full year. What Americans spend on health care-and what we get for the money FOLLOWING THE MONEY When you itemize the national health bill, you find that govern- SPENDING ON THE RISE We already devote more than 14% of our GDP to health care. Even though the rate of growth is expected to slow, by 2012 that figure may top 17%. ment programs are our biggest source of funds and hospital costs far and away top our spending. 50 (millions) WHO PAYS FOR HEALTH CARE WHERE THE MONEY GOES 20% NATIONAL SPENDING ON HEALTH CARE (percent of GDP) 45 13% 18% 35% 32% 5% 6% 15 14% 40 16% 17% 10% 22% 10 35 NUMBER OF | Hospital care | Physician and clinical services Private insurance U NINSURED AMERICANS Medicare 30 |Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program Out of pocket |Other public spending! | Other private spending | Prescription drugs |Nursing-home care '70 l'80 T90 l'00" T'10 "87' '89' 91' 98 ' 95' 97' 99' 'd1 '60 Administrative expenses Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Source: Centers for Medicareand Medicaid Services. Dental | Other 13.9% was the average increase in monthly premiums for Notes: As of 2001. 'Includes workers' compensation, public health, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service spending. Includes other professionalservices, home care, durable medical products, overthe-counter medications, public health, research and construction. employer plans from spring 2002 to 2003 Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Source: Kaiser Family Foundation. HOW THE U.S. COMPARES By some standards of health and well-being, we are unremarkable. Our average life expectancy lags that of many other developed nations, and access to basic care, measured by the number of acute-care hospital days, is typical. But United States 13 % 12 higher prices and heavy use of technology mean that we devote far more of our economy to health care than other nations do; fortunately, our economy is also bigger than most. Switzerland 11 Germany Canada ACUTE-CARE HOSPITAL DAYS (annually, per capita) 10 Belgium IGreece France Portugal Iceland 1.5 to 2.0 Nether- Australia 1.0 to 1.4 Denmark lands Norway -Sweden 0.5 to 0.9 New Zealand Italy Less than 0.5 Austria Czech Republic Not available United Kingdom Japan Spain PER CAPITA GDP Finland $50,000 -$40,000 -$30,000 $20,000 $10,000 Mexico Hungary Ireland Poland South Korea, Luxembourg Slovak Republic Turkey 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 Devebpment. MO NEY Fall 2003 17 PROJECTED PERCENT OF GDP SPENT ON HEALTH CARE