Where Americans spend the most on health care
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Long Island; Washington, D.C. and California's Bay Area had the country's highest health care spending per capita in 2019 — the most recent year covered by a new study.
Why it matters: Medical spending is surging nationwide, with demand and other factors pushing it to a projected $7.7 trillion by 2032 — but actual spending varies from county to county.
Driving the news: In a study published in the March 25 issue of JAMA, researchers analyzed Americans' health care spending using data from billions of insurance claims and hundreds of millions of hospital visits and admissions for 2010 through 2019.
- The analysis includes health care spending via private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare, plus out-of-pocket spending.
- Some health care-related categories, including OTC drugs and medical transportation, were not included — nor was Veterans Affairs spending.
- The result is a sweeping county-level view reflecting the personal health care spending of nearly the entire U.S. population.
By the numbers: Health care spending per capita in 2019 was highest in Nassau County, New York (about $13,300); Suffolk County, New York ($12,700) and Washington, D.C. ($12,500), the researchers found.
- Clark County, Idaho ($3,400); Loving County, Texas ($3,900) and Kenedy County, Texas ($4,000) had the lowest such spending.
Between the lines: The county-level findings tend to reflect broader cost-of-living realities.
- Nobody moves to Long Island, D.C. or the Bay Area in search of value for their dollar.
Stunning stat: The single health condition with the most associated spending? Type 2 diabetes, at $143.9 billion in 2019.
- "Between 2010 and 2019, spending on type 2 diabetes increased at a rate of 1.9% after adjusting for inflation and age/sex and size of the population," per the study.
Caveat: The study doesn't capture health care spending during or immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic and the inflationary period that followed.
Go deeper: The data is also available via an online interactive breaking it down by type of care, specific conditions, and more.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that the Clark County it refers to is in Idaho (not Iowa).
