Costs high and rising
Commonwealth Fund, 2023 (January 31, "U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes," No Publication, https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022, DoA 6/10/2024)
In all countries, health spending as a share of the overall economy has been steadily increasing since the 1980s, as spending growth has outpaced economic growth. This growth is in part because of medical technologies, rising prices in the health sector, and higher demand for services. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, health care spending rose rapidly in nearly all countries, as governments sought to mitigate the spread of the disease through COVID testing, vaccine development, relief funds, and other measures. Since then, spending has slowed but still remains higher from years prior.
In 2021, the U.S. spent 17.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care, nearly twice as much as the average OECD country.
Health spending per person in the U.S. was nearly two times higher than in the closest country, Germany, and four times higher than in South Korea. In the U.S., that includes spending for people in public programs like Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare, and military plans; spending by those with private employer-sponsored coverage or other private insurance; and out-of-pocket health spending.