This page has been validated.
National Health Expenditures 2017 Highlights
U.S. health care spending increased 3.9 percent to reach $3.5 trillion, or $10,739 per person in 2017. Health care spending growth in 2017 was similar to average growth from 2008 to 2013, which preceded the faster growth experienced during the 2014-15 period that was marked by insurance coverage expansion and high rates of growth in retail prescription drug spending. The overall share of gross domestic product (GDP) related to health care spending was 17.9 percent in 2017, similar to that in 2016 (18.0 percent).
Health Spending by Type of Service or Product:
- Hospital Care (33 percent share): Spending for hospital care increased 4.6 percent to $1.1 trillion in 2017, which was slower than the 5.6 percent growth in 2016. The slower growth in 2017 was driven by slower growth in the use and intensity of services. Hospital care expenditures slowed among the major payers—private health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid.
- Physician and Clinical Services (20 percent share): Spending on physician and clinical services increased 4.2 percent to $694.3 billion in 2017. Growth for physician and clinical services slowed in 2017 and was driven by growth in non-price factors such as use and intensity of services. Although slowing, growth in clinical services continued to outpace the growth in physician services in 2017.
- Retail Prescription Drugs (10 percent share): Growth in retail prescription drug spending slowed in 2017, increasing 0.4 percent to $333.4 billion. The slower growth in 2017 followed 2.3 percent growth in 2016, and was the lowest growth in retail prescription drug spending since 2012, when several blockbuster drugs lost patent protection. The key drivers of the slower growth were a continued shift to lower-cost generic drugs and slower growth in the sales volume of some high-cost drugs.
- Other Health, Residential, and Personal Care Services (5 percent share): Spending for other health, residential, and personal care services grew 5.6 percent in 2017 to $183.1 billion after increasing 5.3 percent in 2016. The slight acceleration was driven by faster growth in residential mental health and substance abuse facilities and ambulance services. This category includes expenditures for medical services that are generally delivered by providers in non-traditional settings such as schools, community centers, and the workplace; as well as by ambulance providers and residential mental health and substance abuse facilities.
- Nursing Care Facilities and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (5 percent share): Growth in spending for freestanding nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities decelerated in 2017, growing 2.0 percent to $166.3 billion compared to 3.1 percent growth in 2016. The slower growth in 2017 is largely attributable to slower spending growth in both out-of-pocket and private health insurance spending.
- Dental Services (4 percent share): Spending for dental services increased 3.2 percent in 2017 to $129.1 billion, decelerating from 5.2 percent growth in 2016. Private health insurance (which accounted for 45 percent of dental spending) increased 2.8 percent in 2017—a slowdown from growth of 5.3 percent in 2016. Out-of-pocket spending for dental services (which accounted for 41 percent of dental spending) also slowed, growing 2.5 percent in 2017, after growth of 5.0 percent in 2016.
- Home Health Care (3 percent share): Spending for freestanding home health care agencies increased 4.3 percent in 2017, the same rate as 2016, to $97.0 billion. Slower growth in Medicaid
