Health Spending Took Up a Smaller Share of US Economy in 2022

  • Nation’s collective health tab was $4.5 trillion last year
  • Health-care prices were up 3.2% compared to 7.1% inflation

That’s a reversal of a decades-long trend, when each year health expenditures would account for a greater share of gross domestic product.

Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images
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US health spending rose 4.1% to $4.5 trillion last year, an annual growth level more typical of pre-pandemic times.

The nation’s health-care tab — the collective spending of governments, businesses and households — took up a smaller portion of the overall economy for the second straight year, according to data published Wednesday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.