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Abstract Total nominal US health care spending increased 4.3 percent and reached $3.3 trillion in 2016. Per capita spending on health care increased by $354, reaching $10,348. The share of gross domestic product devoted to health care spending was 17.9 percent in 2016, up from 17.7 percent in 2015. Health spending growth decelerated in 2016 following faster growth in 2014 and 2015 associated with coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and strong retail prescription drug spending growth. In 2016 the slowdown was broadly based, as spending for the largest categories by payer and by service decelerated. Enrollment trends drove the slowdown in Medicaid and private health insurance spending growth in 2016, while slower per enrollee spending growth influenced Medicare spending. Furthermore, spending for retail prescription drugs slowed, partly as a result of lower spending for drugs used to treat hepatitis C, while slower use and intensity of services drove the slowdown in hospital care and physician and clinical services.
Total health care expenditures in the United States reached $3.3 trillion in 2016, or 4.3 percent above the level of spending in 2015 (exhibit 1). The share of the economy devoted to health care reached 17.9 percent in 2016, up 0.2 percentage point from the 17.7 percent share in 2015. The increase in the share in 2016 occurred as health care spending grew 1.5 percentage points faster than the gross domestic product (GDP), which increased 2.8 percent. Per capita health care spending was $10,348 in 2016, or $354 higher than in 2015.
Over the past ten years the health sector has experienced major changes influenced largely by overall economic conditions, a low inflationary environment, and a more recent dramatic increase in health insurance coverage associated with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). During the period 2008-13, health care spending increased at historically low rates of growth, averaging 3.8 percent per year. Over this period, the Great Recession of 2007-09 and the subsequent mild recovery affected health insurance coverage and the use of health care. Additionally, medical price inflation was at historically low levels, in partbecause of lower economywide price growth and various legislative actions aimed at slowing health care spending growth. Following that period, 2014 and 2015 saw dramatic increases in health insurance enrollment,...