“We are on our way in just a handful of years of literally spending 20 percent of our economy — one out of every five dollars spent — on health care. And we spend more than every other nation.”
— Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.)
Booker is correct. As a share of the nation’s gross domestic product, health spending accounted for 17.9 percent in 2017, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS Office of the Actuary projects it will be 19.4 percent in 2027, though that is slightly lower than the 19.7 percent projected a year earlier.
The United States, on a per capita basis, spends much more on health care than other developed countries do, according to a study from a team led by a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researcher. Per capita health-care spending for the United States in 2016 was $9,892, 25 percent higher than second-place Switzerland’s $7,919.