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Health
Care Statistics
Additional
Info on Canada's Health Care Stats
Additional
Info on U.S. Health Care Stats
An
Issue of Growing Concern
Escalating health care costs continue
to remain an issue of great concern for many employers and providers
of health care services. Here are some of the latest statistics
concerning health care.
Health
Care Expenditures
- Preventable
illness makes up approximately 80% of the burden
of illness and 90% of all healthcare costs.
- Preventable
illnesses account for eight of the nine leading categories
of death.
- The United
States spends more on health care than any other industrialized
nation in the world and yet, in many respects, it's citizens
are not the healthiest. (2)
- More than
one-quarter of children without health insurance coverage had
no usual source of health care in 1997, compared with 4 percent
of children with health insurance. (4)
- Uninsured
children were nearly three times as likely as those with health
insurance to be without a recent doctor's visit in 1997. (4)
- The US
healthcare system is the most expensive of systems, outstripping
by over half again the health care expenditures of any other
country. (2)
- In 1997,
health care costs in the US totalled in excess of $1 trillion.
(2)
- Health
care costs in the United States exceed 14% of the gross domestic
product. (2)
- The average
cost of health care per person in the United States approximated
$3,925 in 1997. (3)
- Lifetime
medical costs average approximately $225,000 per person. (1)
- Some 18
percent of lifetime costs for medical care--over $40,000--is
estimated to be incurred in the last year of life. (1)
- Despite
expenditures in excess of $1 trillion, the number of people
without health insurance continues to increase reaching 43.4
million--16.1% of our population--in 1997. (2)
- The Health
Care Financing Administration's analysts recently projected
that, beginning in 1998, national health spending would again
begin to grow faster than the rest of the economy. (2)
- By 2002,
the HCFA projected that national health expenditures would total
$2.1 trillion--an estimated 16.6 percent of the gross domestic
product. (2)
Health
Care Expenditures and US Employers
- Collectively,
private employers and employees are the most important purchasers
of health care through the insurance premiums they pay together
for coverage. (3)
- Of the
$585 billion that private payers expended for medical services
in 1997, about 60% (348 billion) was spent by employers and
employees to purchase insurance. (3)
- Between
1980 and 1993, spending by employers on health care as a percentage
of total compensation to workers increased 3.7 percent to
6.6 percent. (3)
More
on Canada's Health Care Stats
More
on U.S. Health Care Stats
References
1. Fries, J.; Koop, C.E.; Beadle, C.E.;
et al. "Reducing health care costs by reducing the need and
demand for medical services." The New England Journal
of Medicine, 329: 321-325 (July 29), 1993.
2.
Iglehart, J.K. "The American health care system--expenditures."
The New England Journal of Medicine, 340(1): (January
7), 1999.
3.
Kuttner, R. "The American health care system--employer sponsored
health coverage. The New England Journal of Medicine, 340(3):
(January 21), 1999.
4.
Center for Disease Control
(CDC) - CDC RELEASES NEW REPORT ON U.S. HEALTH STATISTICS (July
26), 2000.
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