U.S. spends 18 percent of GDP on health care: study

Americans spent 3.51 trillion U.S. dollars on health care a year, accounting for 18 percent of Gross Domestic Product, a ratio that is highest among all developed economies, said a recent study.

U.S. national health spending reached 3.51 trillion dollars (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in August 2017, 4.3 percent higher than that of August 2016, according to a research released by Altarum's Center for Sustainable Health Spending, a health systems research organization.

The research found U.S. health spending expanded faster than the economy, as nominal GDP growth rate in the same time period stood at 4.1 percent.

American's health care spending has been growing faster than the economy for years, although the gap was narrowed in the last two years thanks to faster GDP growth rate.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, real health spending through August 2017 has increased by 29.1 percent, while real GDP in August was only 14.3 percent above its pre-recession level.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United States spends far more than other developed economies on health care. Germany, the second biggest health care spender in OECD, spent 11.3 percent of its GDP on health care in 2016.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)