Authors libby rittenberg 214

There has been much discussion over the past three decades about the
health-care problem in the United States. Much of this discussion has
focused on rising spending for health care. In this section, we will apply the
model of demand and supply to health care to see what we can learn about
some of the reasons behind rising spending in this important sector of the
economy.
Figure 4.14 "Health-Care Spending as a Percentage of U.S. Output, 1960–
2003" shows the share of U.S. output devoted to health care since 1960. In
1960, about 5% of total output was devoted to health care; by 2004 this
share had risen to 15.4%. That has meant that we are devoting more of our
spending to health care, and less to other goods and services, than we
would be had health-care spending not risen so much.
Figure 4.14 Health-Care Spending as a Percentage of U.S. Output,
1960–2003

Health care’s share of total U.S. output rose from about 5% in 1960 to
15.3% in 2003.

Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen
Saylor URL: />
Saylor.org

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