The presentation below shows the distribution of the National Health Expenditure Account in 2022.
According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “the National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) are the official estimates of total health care spending in the United States.”
In 2022, the health care spending of the US increased to 4.1 percent, reaching $4.5 trillion or $13,493 per person. As part of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the health spending accounted for 17.3 percent.
Healthcare spending growth in 2022 accelerated compared to the 3.2 percent increase in 2021 but decelerated significantly from the 10.6 percent surge in 2020.
The expansion in 2022 was primarily driven by robust growth in Medicaid and private health insurance expenditures, partially mitigated by ongoing reductions in federal COVID-19 relief funding.
During the same period, the insured portion of the population reached a historic peak of 92 percent, with 2.9 million more individuals enrolled in private health insurance and 6.1 million more in Medicaid.
The number of uninsured individuals decreased to 26.6 million in 2022 from 28.5 million in 2021, representing a decline of 1.9 million.
Despite strong economic growth, with GDP rising by 10.7 percent in 2021 and 9.1 percent in 2022, healthcare spending growth slowed to 4.1 percent in 2022, causing the healthcare share of GDP to drop to 17.3 percent, down from 18.2 percent in 2021 and the record high of 19.5 percent in 2020.
Federal COVID-19 relief funding through programs like the Provider Relief Fund and the Paycheck Protection Program, which peaked at $174.6 billion in 2020, continued to impact healthcare expenditures in 2021 and 2022, albeit at reduced levels, totaling $2.0 billion in 2022
Hover on the graph to see the specific item to which the expenditure was allocated for.
Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services