Personal healthcare spending varies by state, ranging from approximately $7,522 to $14,007.
Personal healthcare expenditures, which comprise the largest share of total national health expenditures, refer to spending on goods and services relating directly to patient care. According to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), this includes expenses for hospital care, physicians’ and dentists’ services, prescription drugs, eyeglasses, and nursing home care. Various actors, including private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and regular citizens, often combine to pay these expenses.
California spent the most on healthcare in 2020 at $405.5 billion. The state paid nearly $135 billion more than New York, the next highest state, and over 63 times the amount spent by Wyoming, the state that spent the least. However, California ranked 23rd for healthcare spending per capita.
Which states have high personal healthcare spending?
California spent $405.5 billion or 12.1% of total spending on personal healthcare — funds spent directly on health services — in 2020, the latest year with available data on state-level healthcare spending. New York, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania also ranked as top healthcare-spending states in 2020, with expenditures of $270.8 billion, $246.8 billion, $214.4 billion, and $148.3 billion, respectively. However, California, Texas, Florida, and New York were also the four most populous states in 2020.
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Which states spend the most per person on healthcare?
In 2020, the states with the highest per-capita personal healthcare spending were:
- New York ($14,007 per person)
- Alaska ($13,642 per person)
- Massachusetts ($13,319 per person)
- Delaware ($12,899 per person)
- West Virginia ($12,769 per person)
Which states spend the least on personal healthcare?
Wyoming spent the least overall on personal healthcare in 2020 at about $6.4 billion, representing 0.1% of total personal healthcare spending in the US. Vermont ($8 billion), North Dakota ($8.6 billion), Alaska ($10 billion), and Montanna ($11 billion) also spent relatively low amounts on healthcare in 2020.
Which states spend the least on personal healthcare per person?
In 2020, the states with the lowest per-capita personal healthcare spending were:
- Utah ($7,522 per person)
- Idaho ($8,148 per person)
- Nevada ($8,348 per person)
- Texas ($8,406 per person)
- Colorado ($8,583 per person)
How does the government categorize healthcare spending?
The government splits healthcare spending into a number of different expenditures, including hospital care, physician and clinical services, prescription drugs, health insurance programs, research, medical equipment, dental services, nursing and retirement facilities, and more.
What do most personal healthcare expenditures go toward?
Hospital care, physician and clinical services, and prescription drug expenditures are consistently the three largest personal healthcare spending categories. Expenditures in these three categories totaled $2.6 trillion and accounted for 72% of all personal healthcare spending in 2021.
Hospital care, which includes all services that hospitals provide to patients, accounted for $1.32 trillion of personal healthcare expenditures. All payers (eg. private insurance, government programs, individuals) spent $864.6 billion on services provided by licensed medical physicians and $378 billion on prescription drugs.
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Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
National Health Expenditure Accounts
Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention
Health Care Expenditures
