National health expenditures, fiscal year 1976

The Nation's spending for health in fiscal year 1976 reached $139.3 billion, or $638 per person, according to preliminary figures. This total was 14 percent higher than the $122.2 billion spent for health in 1975. In the 2 years since price controls on the health industry were lifted, expenditures have risen $33.0 billion (31 percent). During this period, the economy has grown at a relatively slow pace with the gross national product increasing 18 percent. Thus, the percentage of the GNP attributed to health care reached 8.6 percent in 1976. Public and private spending rose 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in 1976, with the rise in public expenditures appreciably below the 22-percent increase of 1975. Third-party financing affected slightly more than two-thirds of all personal health care--the private insurance share at 26 percent and that of government 40 percent.