NHE Fact Sheet

Historical NHE, 2015:

• NHE grew 5.8% to $3.2 trillion in 2015, or $9,990 per person, and accounted for 17.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Medicare spending grew 4.5% to $646.2 billion in 2015, or 20 percent of total NHE.
• Medicaid spending grew 9.7% to $545.1 billion in 2015, or 17 percent of total NHE.
• Private health insurance spending grew 7.2% to $1,072.1 billion in 2015, or 33 percent of total NHE.
• Out of pocket spending grew 2.6% to $338.1 billion in 2015, or 11 percent of total NHE.
• Hospital expenditures grew 5.6% to $1,036.1 billion in 2015, faster than the 4.6% growth in 2014.
• Physician and clinical services expenditures grew 6.3% to $634.9 billion in 2015, a faster growth than the 4.8% in 2014.
• Prescription drug spending increased 9.0% to $324.6 billion in 2015, slower than the 12.4% growth in 2014.
• The largest shares of total health spending were sponsored by the federal government (28.7 percent) and the households (27.7 percent).   The private business share of health spending accounted for 19.9 percent of total health care spending, state and local governments accounted for 17.1 percent, and other private revenues accounted for 6.7 percent.
• For further detail see NHE Tables in downloads below.

Projected NHE, 2016-2025:

• National health spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.6 percent per year for 2016-25, and 4.7 percent per year on a per capita basis.
  • Health spending is projected to grow 1.2 percentage points faster than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year over the 2016-25 period; as a result, the health share of GDP is expected to rise from 17.8 percent in 2015 to 19.9 percent by 2025.
  • Throughout the 2016-25 projection period, growth in national health expenditures is driven by projected faster growth in medical prices (from historically low growth in 2015 of 0.8 percent to nearly 3 percent by 2025). This faster expected growth in prices is partially offset by projected slowing growth in the use and intensity of medical goods and services.
• Although the largest health insurance coverage impacts from the Affordable Care Act’s expansions have already been observed in 2014-15, the insured share of the population is projected to increase from 90.9 percent in 2015 to 91.5 percent in 2025.
  • This expectation is mainly a result of continued anticipated growth in private health insurance enrollment, in particular for employer-sponsored insurance, during the first half of the decade in response to faster projected economic growth.
• Health spending growth by federal and state & local governments is projected to outpace growth by private businesses, households, and other private payers over the projection period (5.9 percent compared to 5.4 percent, respectively) in part due to ongoing strong enrollment growth in Medicare by the baby boomer generation coupled with continued government funding dedicated to subsidizing premiums for lower income Marketplace enrollees.
• National health spending growth is projected to have decelerated from 5.8 percent in 2015 to 4.8 percent in 2016 as the initial impacts associated with the Affordable Care Act’s major coverage expansions fade. Medicaid spending growth is projected to have decelerated sharply from 9.7 percent in 2015 to 3.7 percent in 2016 as enrollment growth in the program slowed significantly. Similarly, private health insurance spending growth is projected to have slowed from 7.2 percent in 2015 to 5.9 percent in 2016 (also largely attributable to slowing expected growth in enrollment).
• Health spending is projected to grow 5.4 percent in 2017 related to faster growth in Medicare and private health insurance spending.
• Health expenditures are projected to grow at an average rate of 5.9 percent for 2018-19, the fastest of the sub-periods examined, as projected spending growth in Medicare and Medicaid accelerates.
• Through the second half of the projection (2020-25), increasing medical prices are offset by projected decelerations in growth in the use and intensity of medical goods and services, leading to average growth of 5.8 percent per year for national health expenditures.

For further detail see NHE projections 2016-2025 in downloads below.

NHE by Age Group and Gender, Selected Years 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012:

• Per person personal health care spending for the 65 and older population was $18,988 in 2012, over 5 times higher than spending per child ($3,552) and approximately 3 times the spending per working-age person ($6,632).
• In 2012, children accounted for approximately 25 percent of the population and slightly less than 12 percent of all PHC spending.
• The working-age group comprised the majority of spending and population in 2012, almost 54 percent and over 61 percent respectively.
• The elderly were the smallest population group, nearly 14 percent of the population, and accounted for approximately 34 percent of all spending in 2012.
• Per person spending for females ($8,315) was 22 percent more than males ($6,788) in 2012.
• In 2012, per person spending for male children (0-18) was 9 percent more than females.  However, for the working age and elderly groups, per person spending for females was 28 and 7 percent more than for males.

For further detail see health expenditures by age in downloads below.

NHE by State of Residence, 1991-2009:

• In 2009, per capita personal health care spending ranged from a high of $9,278 in Massachusetts to $5,031 in Utah, where spending was the lowest.
• In 2009, the highest per capita spending occurred in Massachusetts, Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, and Delaware, with spending 24 percent or more above the U.S. average.
• In 2009, the states with the lowest spending per capita were Utah, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, and Nevada, with spending 16 percent or more below the U.S. average.
• Medicare expenditures per beneficiary were highest in New Jersey ($11,903) and lowest in Montana ($7,576) in 2009.
• Medicaid expenditures per enrollee were highest in Alaska ($11,569) and lowest in California ($4,569) in 2009.

For further detail, see health expenditures by state of residence in downloads below.

NHE by State of Provider, 1980-2009:

• California's aggregate personal health care spending was the highest in the nation, representing 11.1 percent of total U.S. personal health care spending in 2009.
• Wyoming's aggregate personal health care spending was the lowest in the nation, representing just 0.2 percent of total U.S. personal health care spending in 2009.
• All states except Delaware, Virginia, and Wyoming spent 12 percent or more of their state GDP on health care in 2009.
• On average, between 2004 and 2009, aggregate personal health care spending grew the fastest in Alaska (8.0 percent) and the slowest in Vermont (3.3 percent).

For further detail, see health expenditures by state of provider in downloads below.