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Health Care

The United States has the third highest rate of health care spending per person ($9,146) in the world, behind Norway and Switzerland. 

Source
World Bank. World Development Indicators, Health Expenditure per Capita (current US$). (Last accessed 10/21/15)

U.S. health care spending as a share of GDP has grown from roughly 15 percent a decade ago to 17 percent in 2013 and is expected to reach nearly 20 percent over the next 10 years.

Source
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (December 2014). “NHE Historical Tables,” Table 1, and “NHE Projections 2014–2024,” Table 1.

Health care spending is projected to grow by an average rate of 5.8 percent per year over the next decade — slightly above the annual growth rate of 5.1 percent over the last decade and well above the long-run historical inflation rate of 2.8 percent per year (1985–2014). 

Source
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (December 2014). “NHE Historical Tables,” Table 1, and “NHE Projections 2014–2024,” Table 1; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015). Consumer Price Index — All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average, All Items, Seasonally Adjusted, 12-Month Percent Change. (Last accessed 10/27/15)

90 percent of the U.S. population had some type of health insurance in 2014, up from 84 percent in 2010.

Source
U.S. Census Bureau. Health Insurance Historical Tables, HIC-1 and HIB-1

Roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population (66 percent) was covered under a private health insurance plan in 2014, and more than one third (37 percent) of the U.S. population received health insurance through the government. 

Source
U.S. Census Bureau. (September 2015). Current Population Reports, “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014,” Table 1: Coverage Rates by Type of Health Insurance: 2013 and 2014. (Last accessed 10/22/15)

Of the 209 million Americans who are covered by private health insurance plans, 84 percent (175 million) receive insurance through an employer. 

Source
U.S. Census Bureau. (September 2015). Current Population Reports, “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014,” Table 1: Coverage Rates by Type of Health Insurance: 2013 and 2014. (Last accessed 10/22/15)

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