By John A. Poisal, Christopher Truffer, Sheila Smith, Andrea Sisko, Cathy Cowan, Sean Keehan, Bridget Dickensheets, and the National Health Expenditure Accounts Projections Team (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
Health Affairs
February 21, 2007
Projected spending for 2007
$2,262.3 billion – NHE (National Health Expenditures)
$7,498.0 – NHE per capita
16.2% – NHE as percent of GDP
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.26.2.w242v1
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
Updated statement on spending:
“This year, 2007, we are spending over $2.2 trillion on health care, which is 16.2 percent of our gross domestic product. That amounts to $7,500 per each person in the United States.”
Also, out-of-pocket payments are increasing 6.1 percent, and private health insurance costs are increasing 6.7 percent, and both are expected to continue to increase at about the same rate for the next decade. Since these rates are well in excess of inflation, the financial burden on patients will continue to grow significantly worse.