U.S. hospital care expenditure 1960-2021

Hospital care expenditure in the United States reached a record 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021. Hospitals play an essential role in the health and treatment of the U.S. population, providing emergency services as well as specialized care.

Hospitals in the U.S.

There are currently around 6,090 hospitals in the United States. However, despite the importance of hospitals, the number of hospitals in the U.S. has decreased in recent years. Unsurprisingly, the number of hospital beds has also decreased. While there were over one million hospital beds in 1995, there were around 919,600 beds in 2019, despite a growing elderly population.

Hospital costs

Medicare accounts for the largest portion of hospital costs in the U.S., followed by private payers and Medicaid. In 2017, Medicare accounted for 47 percent of all hospital costs. The United States has the highest hospital costs per day of any country worldwide, followed by Switzerland and New Zealand. As of 2015, the average cost of a hospital stay in the U.S. was 5,220 dollars per day. Such high costs are one of the reasons health care reform remains a crucial topic for many politicians in the U.S.