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Despite the slower growth, the federal government’s share of health care spending remained at 28 percent.
- Health spending by households grew at a rate of 3.8 percent, which was a deceleration from 4.8 percent in 2016. The slower growth in 2017 was largely due to a deceleration in out-of-pocket spending. Out-of-pocket expenditures, the largest category of household spending (37 percent share), increased 2.6 percent in 2017 compared to growth of 4.4 percent in 2016. Despite the slower growth in 2017, households represented 28 of health care spending, a share that has remained unchanged since 2014.
- Health care financed by state and local governments grew 4.1 percent in 2017, an acceleration from 3.8 percent growth in 2016. The faster growth was driven by increases in state and local Medicaid spending, which represented 37 percent of state and local government health spending. State and local government’s share of health care spending remained at 17 percent, a share that has been relatively stable since 2014.
- Spending on health care by private businesses slowed in 2017, increasing 4.1 percent compared to 5.5 percent growth in 2016. The largest category of private business health care costs are employer-sponsored premiums, which increased 4.6 percent in 2017. The private business share of overall health spending remained fairly steady since 2010, at about 20 percent.
1Type of sponsor is defined as the entity that is ultimately responsible for financing the health care bill, such as private businesses, households, and governments. These sponsors pay health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, or finance health care through dedicated taxes and/or general revenues.
