National health care spending in the US rose by 7.2% in 2024, according to research published in the journal Health Affairs (Hartman M, Martin AB, Lassman D, Catlin A; National Health Expenditure Accounts Team. National Health Care Spending Increased 7.2 Percent In 2024 As Utilization Remained Elevated, Health Aff (Millwood), Published online January 14, 2026, doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2025.01683).

The authors report:

“Health care spending reached $5.3 trillion, or $15,474 per person, growing 7.2 percent in 2024 (exhibit 1). This was the second consecutive year of growth above 7 percent (growth was 7.4 percent in 2023), after growth of 4.1 percent in 2021 and 4.8 percent in 2022. The strong growth in both 2023 and 2024 was driven by nonprice factors (such as increased demand for care and changes in the composition of the health care goods and services consumed),¹ as evidenced by growth in personal health care spending that averaged 8.9 percent per year (calculated from exhibit 2), the highest average growth rate for two consecutive years since 1991–92, when it was 9.1 percent (data not shown for 1991–92).² The increased use of health care goods and services in 2024 was somewhat higher than many health insurers anticipated.³“

They also noted that:

“Health care spending continued to account for an increasing share of GDP, at 18.0 percent in 2024, up from 17.7 percent in 2023, as health spending continued to outpace growth in GDP. Strong overall health care spending in 2023 and 2024 was due to growth in personal health care spending, which averaged 8.9 percent and represented the highest rate of growth for two consecutive years in more than three decades. The strong growth in personal health care over the course of these two years was driven primarily by nonprice factors such as the use and intensity of services, particularly for hospital care, physician and clinical services, and retail prescription drugs.

“The insured share of the population reached a peak in 2023, at 92.5 percent, declining to 91.8 percent in 2024. A decline in Medicaid enrollment in 2024 was accompanied by enrollment gains in Marketplace plans and employer-sponsored private health insurance. Federal spending for health care picked up in 2024 as spending growth for Marketplace subsidies increased, as did Medicare spending related to provisions in the IRA.”

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other OECD member nations.

Page last updated January 29, 2026 by Doug McVay, Editor.