How Much of U.S. Health Care Spending Provides Direct Care or Benefit to Patients?
Table of Contents
Author(s)
Hagop M. Kantarjian
Nonresident Fellow in Health PolicyVivian Ho
James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health EconomicsTo access the full article, download the PDF on the left-hand sidebar.
By Morgan N. Fredell, Hagop M. Kantarjian, Ya-Chen Shih, Vivian Ho and Binata Mukherjee
Abstract
Plans to optimize health care in the United States highlight the high cost but rarely explore opportunities for redirecting resources within the existing system to increase access to care while lowering spending. This analysis indicates that, of the total national health care expenditures of $3.21 trillion in 2015, only $1.4 trillion to $2.86 trillion was used to provide care to patients. This range was reached by the subtraction of excess spending in 7 categories. Thus, many opportunities exist to repurpose wasted expenditures to increase access to health care without the need for additional funding.
Published in Cancer.