NHE Fact Sheet

Historical NHE, 2021:

NHE grew 2.7% to $4.3 trillion in 2021, or $12,914 per person, and accounted for 18.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Medicare spending grew 8.4% to $900.8 billion in 2021, or 21 percent of total NHE.
Medicaid spending grew 9.2% to $734.0 billion in 2021, or 17 percent of total NHE.
Private health insurance spending grew 5.8% to $1,211.4 billion in 2021, or 28 percent of total NHE.
Out of pocket spending grew 10.4% to $433.2 billion in 2021, or 10 percent of total NHE.
Other Third Party Payers and Programs and Public Health Activity spending declined 20.7% in 2021 to $596.6 billion, or 14 percent of total NHE.
Hospital expenditures grew 4.4% to $1,323.9 billion in 2021, slower than the 6.2% growth in 2020.
Physician and clinical services expenditures grew 5.6% to $864.6 billion in 2021, slower growth than the 6.6% in 2020.
Prescription drug spending increased 7.8% to $378.0 billion in 2021, faster than the 3.7% growth in 2020.
The largest shares of total health spending were sponsored by the federal government (34 percent) and the households (27 percent). The private business share of health spending accounted for 17 percent of total health care spending, state and local governments accounted for 15 percent, and other private revenues accounted for 7 percent.

For further detail see NHE Tables in downloads below.

Projected NHE, 2021-2030:

On average over 2021-30, National Health Expenditures (NHE) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are both projected to grow 5.1 percent per year; as a result, the projected NHE share of GDP in 2030 (19.6 percent) is similar to 2020 (19.7 percent).
Near-term NHE patterns are significantly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. NHE growth in 2021 is projected to have slowed to 4.2 percent (down from 9.7 percent growth in 2020) as federal COVID-19 supplemental funding declined substantially.
Following the declines observed in 2020, health care utilization is expected to rebound starting in 2021 and normalize through 2024. By 2024, the government (federal and state & local) share of health spending is expected to fall to 46 percent as COVID-19 supplemental funding is expected to wane, down from an all-time high of 51 percent in 2020.
The percentage of the population with health insurance is expected to peak in 2022 at 91.1% (mainly due to Medicaid enrollment) before falling back towards pre-pandemic levels as the public health emergency is assumed to end. The 2030 rate is projected to be 90.5%.
For 2025-2030, factors that typically drive changes in health spending and enrollment, such as economic, demographic, and health-specific factors, are again expected to primarily influence trends in the health sector.

For further detail see NHE projections 2021-2030 in downloads below.

NHE by Age Group and Gender, Selected Years 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014:

Per person personal health care spending for the 65 and older population was $19,098 in 2014, over 5 times higher than spending per child ($3,749) and almost 3 times the spending per working-age person ($7,153).
In 2014, children accounted for approximately 24 percent of the population and about 11 percent of all PHC spending.
The working-age group comprised the majority of spending and population in 2014, almost 54 percent and over 61 percent respectively.
The elderly were the smallest population group, nearly 15 percent of the population, and accounted for approximately 34 percent of all spending in 2014.
Per person spending for females ($8,811) was 21 percent more than males ($7,272) in 2014.
In 2014, per person spending for male children (0-18) was 9 percent more than females. However, for the working age and elderly groups, per person spending for females was 26 and 7 percent more than for males.

For further detail see health expenditures by age in downloads below.

NHE by State of Residence, 1991-2020:

In 2020, per capita personal health care spending ranged from $7,522 in Utah to $14,007 in New York. Per capita spending in New York state was 37 percent higher than the national average ($10,191) while spending in Utah was about 26 percent lower.
Health care spending by region continued to exhibit considerable variation. In 2020, the New England and Mideast regions had the highest levels of total per capita personal health care spending ($12,728 and $12,577, respectively), or 25 and 23 percent higher than the national average. In contrast, the Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions had the lowest levels of total personal health care spending per capita ($8,497 and $8,587, respectively) with average spending 17 and 16 percent lower than the national average, respectively.
Between 2014 and 2020, average growth in per capita personal health care spending was highest in New York at 6.1 percent per year and lowest in Wisconsin at 3.0 percent per year (compared with average growth of 4.3 percent nationally).
The spread between the highest and the lowest per capita personal health spending across the states has remained relatively stable over 2014-20. Accordingly, the highest per capita spending levels were 90 to 100 percent higher per year than the lowest per capita spending levels during the period.
Medicare expenditures per beneficiary were highest in Florida ($13,652) and lowest in Vermont ($8,726) in 2020.
Medicaid expenditures per enrollee were highest in North Dakota ($12,314) and lowest in Georgia ($4,754) in 2020.

For further detail, see health expenditures by state of residence in downloads below.

NHE by State of Provider, 1980-2020:

Between 2014 and 2020, U.S. personal health care spending grew, on average, 4.8 percent per year, with spending in Arizona growing the fastest (6.6 percent) and spending in Vermont growing the slowest (2.7 percent).
In 2020, California’s personal health care spending was highest in the nation ($410.9 billion), representing 12.2 percent of total U.S. personal health care spending. Comparing historical state rankings through 2020, California consistently had the highest level of total personal health care spending, together with the highest total population in the nation. Other large states, New York, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania, also were among the states with the highest total personal health care spending.
Wyoming’s personal health care spending was lowest in the nation (as has been the case historically), representing just 0.1 percent of total U.S. personal health care spending in 2020. Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, and Montana were also among the states with the lowest personal health care spending in both 2020 and historically. All these states have smaller populations.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by state measures the value of goods and services produced in each state. Health spending as a share of a state’s GDP shows the importance of the health care sector in a state’s economy. As a share of GDP, West Virginia ranked the highest (28.7 percent) and Washington state the lowest (11.7 percent) in 2020.

For further detail, see health expenditures by state of provider in downloads below.