NOTE: The facts below draw a distinction between healthcare spending, prices, and costs based upon the following definitions:

• “Spending” refers to what is spent on healthcare in general. Thus, if people use more healthcare services, this causes spending to increase even if prices remain the same.

 

• “Prices” refer to what healthcare providers charge for particular services and products.

 

• “Costs” refer to what healthcare providers spend in order to provide particular healthcare services and products to patients. This is equivalent to prices minus profits or losses.

* Between 1960 and 2009, healthcare spending in the United States increased

• from a yearly average of $147 per person to $8,086 (by 55 times).

 

• from a yearly average of $1,082 per person in inflation-adjusted 2010 dollars to $8,218 (by 7.6 times).

 

• from 5.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 17.8% (by 3.4 times).[1]

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