What eats up health care $$$?

Ok, time for a little Snitz context (with help from Claude AI).

• Someone's final exit burns up a ton of money. On average about 25% of medicare expenditures occur in someone's last year of life, that figure jumps to almost 40% in the last three years. That latter number represents about 1/6th of all spending on healthcare. Ergo, it's expensive to "go".

• About 70% of healthcare spending is related to chronic disease. The drivers of this are over eating, over consumption of sugars and inactivity.

So we have become a population of overweight Manatees who move little and are expensive to dispose of.

What does the US spend on personal healthcare?

USA Facts

US personal healthcare spending is measured in trillions — and growing. In 2024, Americans spent about $4.5 trillion on personal healthcare. That’s up 2,005% since 1980, far outpacing overall inflation: overall prices rose 281%. Here’s where the money goes and how spending breaks down.

USAFacts

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines “personal healthcare” as the goods and services for patients — think prescription drugs, dentistry, and hospital bills. It calculates spending by adding national health spending from all sources and then subtracting the cost of research and equipment and other investments, health insurance administration, and public health programs.

At the per-person level, spending rose from $943 in 1980 to $13,265 in 2024 (not adjusted for inflation). Hospital care accounts for most personal healthcare spending. In 2024, it totaled $1.6 trillion, or 36.2% of all personal healthcare spending. 

Personal healthcare expenditures

Home healthcare had the biggest percent increase between 1980 and 2024. Spending rose more than 7,022%, from $2.4 billion to $169.4 billion (not adjusted for inflation). 

Spending on dental services increased the least but still rose more than four times more than overall inflation, growing 1,320% from $13.3 billion to $189.2 billion.

What’s with the rising costs? Factors that affect healthcare spending include demographic changes (like an aging population), changes in how people use healthcare, and price increases for healthcare-related goods and services.