The U.S. spends about $111 billion on dental services each year, but dental services spending only accounts for about 4% of total U.S. healthcare spending, according to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation.
The foundation recently released a health report titled "Health Care Costs 101: Reaching a Spending Plateau?" The report used information from public, government databases to analyze how the U.S. spends healthcare dollars.
The report, which mainly used 2013 as a base year for analysis, includes totals for how much the U.S. spends as a whole, including private insurance, government programs, and out of pocket. It also broke down the data by type of service, such as dental, and type of funding, such as Medicaid.
The list and infographic below have key information about how spending for dental services compared with other healthcare services.
Key findings included the following:
- In 2013, the U.S. spent $2.9 trillion on healthcare.
- Spending is expected to grow to $5.1 trillion by 2023.
- The U.S. is expected to spend $10,125 per person on healthcare in 2015.
- While healthcare spending overall increased 3.6% from 2012 to 2013, dental services spending remained relatively stable with a 0.9% growth rate.
- Hospital care received the highest percentage of combined Medicare and Medicaid dollars in 2013.
- Dental services received the lowest percentage of combined Medicare and Medicaid dollars in 2013.
Data from the November 2015 report "Health Care Costs 101: Reaching a Spending Plateau?" from the California HealthCare Foundation.
