U.S. health care spending grew 3.6 percent in 2013, reaching $2.9 trillion or $9,255 per person. As a share of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.4 percent.
Using the above information and other information you will be directed to below, do the following:
Define the economic principle of opportunity cost.
Locate current GDP expenditures and express the percentages in a graph or a chart.
Explain whether spending 17.4% of GDP is too much or too little to spend on healthcare.
Defend your position using the concept of opportunity cost and highlight specific GDP expenditures that are impacted by healthcare expenditure (opportunity cost).
Resource:
Hartman, M., Martin A. B., Benson, J., Catlin, A., & The National Health Expenditure Accounts Team (2011). National health spending in 2011. Health Affairs, 32(1), 87-99. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1206. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23297275.
