Personal health care expenditure by source of funds 2018
Personal health care expenditure in the United States
Health care facilities in the U.S. are mostly considered part of the private sector. The United States' total health care expenditures were over 3.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2018. Globally, the U.S. spent the most on health care per capita as well as, as a percentage of its GDP. It has been ranked as one of the least efficient health care systems in the world. Health care expenditure includes a variety of services and products such as hospital care, physician and clinical services, dental, home health care, and nursing care facilities.
Personal health care expenditure in the United States has skyrocketed from 1990 to 2018. Funds for health care are still primarily derived from private health insurance and governmental health plans. A slowing growth in out-of-pocket payments can indicate higher cost-sharing and increased enrollment in consumer-directed health plans. In 1990, private health insurance funded some 205 billion U.S. dollars of health care services and increased to over one trillion U.S. dollars by 2017. Health care expenditure through private insurance has grown to over 35 percent of total personal health costs. The percentage of U.S. citizens covered by Medicare has increased from the 1990s until today. Medicare is a national social insurance program through the U.S. federal government which guarantees health insurance for citizens over the age of 64. Medicare expenditure totaled 697 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.