Annual Percentage Change per Capita in Health Care Spending and Gross
Domestic Product, 1997-2003
Spending on Type of Health Care Service
All Servicesb
Hospital Inpatientb
Hospital Outpatientb
Physician
Rx Drugs
GDP
1998
5.8%
0.9%
8.7%
4.7%
14.1%
4.3%
1999
7.4
2.3
11.0
5.0
18.4
4.4
2000
7.9
4.2
10.0
6.3
14.5
4.8
2001
10.2
9.1
15.0
6.7
13.8
1.7
2002
9.9
9.3
13.8
6.5
13.2
2.7
2003a
8.5
7.6
12.9
6.1
8.5
2.9
a Data through June 3003, compared with
the corresponding months in 2003.
b Trend estimates have been adjusted to remove the effect of changes in
hospital prices for Medicaid patients.
Notes: GDP is in nominal dollars.
Sources: Health care spending data are the Milliman USA Health Cost Index
($0 deductible); GDP is from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of
Economic Analysis
About this table: This table shows annual growth rates for per
capita private health care spending and per capita Gross Domestic Product
during the 1997 to 2003 period. As the first column demonstrates, growth
in per capita private health care spending accelerated from 1997 to 2001
but has since decelerated. In each time period, growth in per capita private
health care spending outstripped growth in GDP, almost always by a significant
margin. This table differs from table 1 in Data Bulletin 26 in that estimates
include data for 12 month periods compared to the previous 12 month period;
table 1 of DB 26 presents estimates based on a comparison of 6-month periods
with the corresponding period in the previous year.
