Managed Care - May 2008 - (Page 21) No relief in sight When it comes to health care spending, the cliché “you get what you pay for” should be tweaked. You get what you’re willing to pay for and, as a society, we seem willing so far to pay for a lot of health care. Health expenditures in the United States as a percent of gross domestic product far outpace any other country. We pay more for health care than anything else — food, shelter, national defense and, yes, even gasoline. 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% National health expenditures per capita have grown at a projected compound annual rate of 6.8 percent over the last five years. Per capita health expenditure Median family income $51,680 $52,680 $54,061 $56,194 National health expenditures as a percent of gross domestic product $5,485 $5,879 $6,280 $6,683 2002 8% 6% 4% 2% 0 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Source: CMS Source: CMS, Census data 2003 2004 2005 National Health Expenditures are expected to amount to 20 percent of GDP by 2017. Will we, as a society, still be willing to carry that burden? Here’s how expenditures are expected to rise for selected payers. Projected health spending (trillions of dollars) 4.5 4.0 Components of GDP (3rd quarter of 2006) National health expenditure (NHE) Health expenditures 3.5 3.0 2.5 Other 16.5% 10.5% 9.6% Housing 2.0 1.5 1.0 Food 0.5 0 Total private Insurance Total public 52.6% 3.4% 4.6% 2.8% National defense Motor vehicles and parts Gasoline, fuel oil, and other energy sources Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis (2006), CMS (2006) Medicare 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Note: “Insurance” is a subset of “total private” and “Medicare” is a subset of “total public.” “Expenditures” is the sum of “total private” and “total public.” Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary MAY 2008 / MANAGED CARE 21
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