American taxpayers footed the bill for at least $1.8 trillion in federal and state health care expenditures in 2022 — about 41% of the nearly $4.5 trillion in both public and private health care spending the U.S. recorded last year, according to the annual report released last week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

On top of that $1.8 trillion, third-party programs, which are often government-funded, and public health programs accounted for another $600 billion in spending.

This means the U.S. government spent more on health care last year than the governments of Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Austria, and France combined spent to provide universal health care coverage to the whole of their population (335 million in total), which is comparable in size to the U.S. population of 331 million.

Between direct public spending and compulsory, tax-driven insurance programs, Germany spent about $380 billion in health care in 2022; France spent around $300 billion, and so did the U.K.; Italy, $147 billion; Spain, $105 billion; and Austria, $43 billion. The total, $1.2 trillion, is about two-thirds of what the U.S. government spent without offering all of its citizens the option of forgoing private insurance.

  • DigitalFrank@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    14
    ·
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    According to google, the 2023 population of those countries in millions:

    Germany: 83

    UK: 67

    Italy: 58

    Spain: 47

    Austria: 8

    France: 64

    Total: 327

    US: 334

    Hmm…It’s almost like population numbers have something to do with health care costs.

    • TheFonz@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      You would be on to something, but on a per Capita basis the US still spends more. So the reality is the US still spends more on healthcare than its developed counterparts

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      11 months ago

      It’s like you didn’t read the article.

      This means the U.S. government spent more on health care last year than the governments of Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Austria, and France combined spent to provide universal health care coverage to the whole of their population (335 million in total), which is comparable in size to the U.S. population of 331 million.