One Percent of Patients Account for 23 Percent of Health Spending

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has updated its estimate of the concentration of medical expenditures, previously reported as of 1996. In 2012:

• Total medical spending was $1.35 trillion;
• One percent of people accounted for 22.7 percent of total health expenditures, with an annual mean expenditure of $97,956;
• Five percent of people accounted for 50.0 percent of the total, with an annual mean expenditure of $43,058; Ten percent of people accounted for 66.0 of the total, with a mean annual expenditure of $28,468;
• Fifty percent of people accounted for 97.7 percent of the total; and Fifty percent of the people accounted for only 2.3 percent of the total.

Read the entire article at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.