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Show General Health Status Health Care Expenditures Compiled by C. Nicole Cooper The cost of health care in the United States has risen rapidly in recent decades, and, so has the cost of health care within the state of Utah. For example, in 1980, national health expenditures totaled $245.8 billion dollars. By 2001, that number had risen to $1,424.5 billion dollars - a figure nearly six times as great. Many factors contribute to these rising costs; an aging population and increases in Medicare and Medicaid spending are among them. Nursing home and home health spending rose from $20.1 billion dollars in 1980 to $132.1 billion in 2001, an increase of over 650% (Table 1, Figure 1). Costs related to prescription drugs have also risen significantly: between 1999 and 2001, these costs rose an additional $36 million dollars. Utah spends nearly the same percentage on hospital care and other personal health care, but spends a smaller proportion on physician services, nursing home care, and home health care than the national average (Table 2, Figure 2). Utah spends a greater proportion than does the nation on drugs and medical non-durables, dental services, and medical durables. Table 1. National Health Expenditures in Billion of Dollars, by Service, 1997-2001 Hospital Care Physician and Clinical Services Dental Services Nursing Home and Home Health Prescription Drugs 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 367.6 378.4 393.7 416.5 451.2 241.0 256.8 270.2 288.8 313.6 50.2 53.2 56.4 60.7 65.6 119.6 122.7 121.9 125.5 132.1 75.7 87.3 104.4 121.5 140.6 Table 2. Personal Health Care Spending, 1998, by Service in Millions of Dollars, and as a Percent of Total. Hospital Care Physician and Other Professional Services Drugs and Other Medical Non-durables Nursing Home Care Dental Services Home Health Care Medical Durables Other Personal Health Care Utah $M U.S. $M Utah % U.S. % 2,133 379,739 37.2 37.4 1,602 296,066 27.9 29.1 828 121,906 14.4 12.0 295 87,820 5.1 8.6 449 53,829 7.8 5.3 129 29,251 2.2 2.9 119 15,499 2.1 1.5 178 31,878 3.1 3.1 Sources: Kaiser Foundation State Health Facts. [Online] i!JH_.i\A}" s ij'l-*u-> *- i o».g- Accessed 7/24/03. U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditures. [Online] hite¦•:Vcms hhs sov statisitics/nhe mstoncai/t2.asp. Accessed 7/24/03. Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume DC 77 |