IMPORTANCE US health care spending has continued to increase and now accounts for 18% of the US economy, although little is known about how spending on each health condition varies by payer, and how these amounts have changed over time. OBJECTIVE To estimate US spending on health care according to 3 types of payers (public insurance [including Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs], private insurance, or out-of-pocket payments) and by health condition, age group, sex, and type of care for 1996 through 2016. DESIGN AND SETTING Government budgets, insurance claims, facility records, household surveys, and official US records from 1996 through 2016 were collected to estimate spending for 154 health conditions. Spending growth rates (standardized by population size and age group) were calculated for each type of payer and health condition. EXPOSURES Ambulatory care, inpatient care, nursing care facility stay, emergency department care, dental care, and purchase of prescribed pharmaceuticals in a retail setting. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES National spending estimates stratified by health condition, age group, sex, type of care, and type of payer and modeled for each year from 1996 through 2016. RESULTS Total health care spending increased from an estimated $1.4 trillion in 1996 (13.3% of gross domestic product [GDP]; $5259 per person) to an estimated $3.1 trillion in 2016 (17.9% of GDP; $9655 per person); 85.2% of that spending was included in this study. In 2016, an estimated 48.0% (95% CI, 48.0%-48.0%) of health care spending was paid by private insurance, 42.6% (95% CI, 42.5%-42.6%) by public insurance, and 9.4% (95% CI, 9.4%-9.4%) by out-of-pocket payments. In 2016, among the 154 conditions, low back and neck pain had the highest amount of health care spending with an estimated $134.5 billion (95% CI, $122.4-$146.9 billion) in spending, of which 57.2% (95% CI, 52.2%-61.2%) was paid by private insurance, 33.7% (95% CI, 30.0%-38.4%) by public insurance, and 9.2% (95% CI, 8.3%-10.4%) by out-of-pocket payments. Other musculoskeletal disorders accounted for the second highest amount of health care spending
IMPORTANCEMeasuring health care spending by race and ethnicity is important for understanding patterns in utilization and treatment. OBJECTIVE To estimate, identify, and account for differences in health care spending by race and ethnicity from 2002 through 2016 in the US.
Background There is a robust understanding of how specific behavioural, metabolic, and environmental risk factors increase the risk of health burden. However, there is less understanding of how these risks individually and jointly affect health-care spending. The objective of this study was to quantify health-care spending attributable to modifiable risk factors in the USA for 2016. Methods We extracted estimates of US health-care spending by condition, age, and sex from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's Disease Expenditure Study 2016 and merged these estimates with population attributable fraction estimates for 84 modifiable risk factors from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 to produce estimates of spending by condition attributable to these risk factors. Because not all spending can be linked to health burden, we adjusted attributable spending estimates downwards, proportional to the association between health burden and health-care spending across time and age for each aggregate health condition. We propagated underlying uncertainty from the original data sources by randomly pairing the draws from the two studies and completing our analysis 1000 times independently. Findings In 2016, US health-care spending attributable to modifiable risk factors was US$730•4 billion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 694•6-768•5), corresponding to 27•0% (95% UI 25•7-28•4) of total health-care spending. Attributable spending was largely due to five risk factors: high body-mass index ($238•5 billion, 178•2-291•6), high systolic blood pressure ($179•9 billion, 164•5-196•0), high fasting plasma glucose ($171•9 billion, 154•8-191•9), dietary risks ($143•6 billion, 130•3-156•1), and tobacco smoke ($130•0 billion, 116•8-143•5). Spending attributable to risk factor varied by age and sex, with the fraction of attributable spending largest for those aged 65 years and older (45•5%, 44•2-46•8). Interpretation This study shows high spending on health care attributable to modifiable risk factors and highlights the need for preventing and controlling risk exposure. These attributable spending estimates can contribute to informed development and implementation of programmes to reduce risk exposure, their health burden, and healthcare cost. Funding Vitality Institute.
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