Washington Examiner December 5, 2019
Healthcare spending for each person living in the United States surpassed $11,000 in 2018 for the first time, bringing the total spending on healthcare to $3.6 trillion.
Healthcare spending grew slower than the economy as a whole, though, meaning that healthcare spending as a share of GDP decreased to 17.7%, down from 17.9% in 2017.
The figures, part of an annual, nonpartisan analysis from actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, come as Congress and presidential candidates are debating how to reduce national spending and curb what individuals pay for medical care.
The report specifically found that average per-person spending in 2018 was $11,172, an increase of $430 from the year before. Just six years earlier, in 2012,...