In a given year, a small portion of the population is responsible for a very large percentage of total health spending. This collection of charts explores the variation in health spending across the population through an analysis of 2023 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. The analysis finds that five percent of the population accounted for nearly half of all health spending, spending an average of $72,918 annually in 2023. People with health spending in the top one percent spent an average of $150,467 per year.
The analysis also examines spending variation by age, gender, race, insurance coverage status and presence of certain health conditions. Adults who have been diagnosed with a serious or chronic disease have significantly higher out-of-pocket spending.
The chart collection is part of the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system.
