1) How do health outcomes as a result of investment in the healthcare system in the United States compare to those in other high-income nations? 2) What is in charge of the American performance? 3) How might American performance impact national health disparities?
Overview
It can be challenging to compare health spending across nations because each one has distinct political, economic, and social characteristics that influence its spending. The following charts compare the United States to other OECD nations with comparable levels of national income and per capita, as health spending is highly correlated with a nation’s level of wealth (as measured by GDP and median GDP per capita). In 2020, the U.S. spent $11,945 on health care per person, which was more than $4,000 more than the average high-income country. Comparable nations spend about half as much on health per person ($5,736) as the United States does.
Between 2019 and 2020, health spending per capita increased in all countries for which data were available. The United States saw a 10% increase in per capita health spending, more than Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, or Sweden. However, national health expenditures increased by just 1.9% in 2020, excluding federal public health spending and other federal programs (such as the Provider Relief Fund and Paycheck Protection Program loans). With a 17.1% increase, the United Kingdom experienced the highest per capita growth in health spending between 2019 and 2020.
The gap between health spending as a percentage of the economy in the United States and comparable OECD nations has expanded over the past 50 years. In 1970, the United States spent roughly 6% of its GDP on health, comparable to expenditures by several comparable countries (the average of comparably wealthy countries was 5% of GDP in 1970).
Up until the 1980s, when health spending in the U.S. expanded at a noticeably greater rate relative to its GDP, the U.S. was roughly on par with other nations. Between 2019 and 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decline in GDP in every comparable country for which data were available as well as an increase in health spending. The U.S. spent 19% of its GDP on health consumption in 2020 (up from 17% in 2019), while the United Kingdom, the next highest similar nation, spent 13% of its GDP on health (up from 10% in 2019).
