U.S. health care spending grew 3.6 percent in 2013, reaching $2.9 trillion or $9,255 per person. As a share of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.4 percent.
Using the above information and other information you will be directed to below, do the following:
- Define the economic principle of opportunity cost.
- Locate current GDP expenditures and express the percentages in a graph or a chart.
- Explain whether spending 17.4% of GDP is too much or too little to spend on healthcare.
- Defend your position using the concept of opportunity cost and highlight specific GDP expenditures that are impacted by healthcare expenditure (opportunity cost).
Resource:
Hartman, M., Martin A. B., Benson, J., Catlin, A., & The National Health Expenditure Accounts Team (2011). National health spending in 2011. Health Affairs, 32(1), 87-99. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1206. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23297275.