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: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 214