Health care spending for 2009
Health Spending Projections Through 2018: Recession Effects Add Uncertainty To The Outlook
By Andrea Sisko and colleagues at Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Health Affairs
February 24, 2009
Projected spending for 2009:
$2,509.5 billion - National Health Expenditures (NHE)
$8,160.3 - NHE per capita
17.6% - NHE as percent of GDP
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.2.w346v1
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
These are the most reliable numbers to use that represent our health care spending for this year. Rounding off these numbers makes them easier to remember and eases communication of the amounts:
Total health spending is two and one-half trillion dollars
Health spending per person is over 8100 dollars
That amounts to about seventeen and one-half percent of our GDP