Today we will start with where the health spending goes–who receives it? So we have total health spending, personal consumption health spending (see numbers below), which is partly administrative spending, and then personal health care–$4.86 trillion in 2025, $5.5 trillion in 2026 and $7.69 trillion in 2034. In this personal health care category, $1.77 trillion went to hospitals in 2025, $1.87 trillion in 2026, and $2.71 trillion in 2034. Physicians and similar clinicians get $1.18 trillion in 2025, $1.24 trillion in 2026 and $1.9 trillion in 2034. Dentists get $198 billion in 2025, $211 billion in 2026 and $305 billion in 2034. Other professional services are $196 billion in 2025, $200 billion in 2026 and $302 billion in 2034.
Drugs are $519 billion in 2025, $561.5 billion in 2026 and $814 billion in 2034. Durable medical equipment is $91.8 billion in 2025, $96.8 billion in 2026 and $138.6 billion in 2034. Other medical products are $135.7 billion in 2025, $144.4 billion in 2026 and $208.9 billion in 2034. Home health care was $187 billion in 2025, $202 billion in 2026 and will be $368 billion in 2034. Nursing facility and similar care in $234 billion in 2025, $248 billion in 2026, $338 billion in 2034. Government program administration is a ridiculous $71.5 billion in 2025, $72.9 billion in 2026 and $101.5 billion in 2034. Private insurance admin and profit is $328 billion in 2025, $376.9 billion in 2026 and $630.7 billion in 2034. And other spending is $348.7 billion in 2025, $374.8 billion in 2026 and $615 billion in 2034. Home health care is projected to have the highest growth rate through 2034.
Next, we look at where the money is coming from. There is a simple answer to this, every bit of it is paid for by you, the American consumer and taxpayer. To the extent it is paid by government, you pay taxes for it. To the extent it is paid by employers, you pay for it in the cost of those employers’ goods and services. And some of it you pay directly. But here is the intermediate breakdown. Again, the total national health spending was $5.66 trillion in 2025, will be $6.02 trillion in 2026 and is estimated at $8.97 trillion in 2034. The vast majority of this is personal consumption health care, (this includes not just care delivered to patients, but also some administrative expenses) $5.41 trillion in 2025, $5.76 trillion in 2026 and $8.61 trillion in 2034. (HA Article)
Individuals directly paid $591 billion of this in 2025 (self-pay, deductibles, copays, not clear if it includes premium contributions), will pay $628 billion in 2026 and $883 billion in 2034. For private health insurance, the comparable numbers are $1.78 trillion in 2025, $1.89 trillion in 2026 and $2.68 trillion in 2034. For Medicare, they are $1.2 trillion in 2025, $1.31 trillion in 2026 and $2.35 trillion in 2034 and for Medicaid, $1 trillion in 2025, $1.06 trillion in 2026 and $1.5 trillion in 2034.
Miscellaneous other health insurance (this includes CHIPs, VA and military programs) paid $205 billion in 2025, $213 billion in 2026 and will pay $296 billion in 2034. Other third-party payer programs are at $469 billion in 2025, $498 billion in 2026, and $689 billion in 2034. Public health activities cost a pretty astounding $158 billion in 2025 and 2026 and will cost $194 in 2034. And lastly, “investment” which means all those gold-plated hospital additions by large allegedly non-profit health systems, was $247 billion in 2025, $278 billion in 2026 and $357 billion in 2034. Of all these payment sources Medicare is projected to have the highest annual growth at 7%, while the others are around 5% annual growth out to 2034.
Another way to look at payment sources is that governments paid about 48% of all health spending in 2025 and that won’t change much, with the federal government representing 31%. This is a big budget and deficit issue for the federal government. Households are around 28% of all spending. Private businesses and other private sources are 24%.
Now you have a lot of numbers behind our national health spending. A lot is wasted and goes to fraud and we have to take action now to get this spending greatly reduced. Its your money that is paying for all this.
