Healthcare costs by the numbers

Health snapshot Here are the vital statistics showing the dual challenges of healthcare reform -- figuring out how to slow the growth rate in health spending, while bringing the benefits of quality healthcare to the uninsured.SPENDING U.S. health spending in 2008: $2.4 trillion, equals 16.6% of gross domestic productSpending projected for 2018: $4.4 trillion, equals 20.3% of gross domestic productProjected growth in health spending through 2018: 6.2% a yearProjected growth in gross domestic product through 2018: 4.1% a yearYear when spending by government will exceed 50% of all health spending: 2016Source: Health spending projections through 2018, issued Feb. 24 by Department of Health and Human ServicesSATISFACTION Percentage of consumers in traditional insurance plans extremely or very satisfied with the quality of care they receive: 73%Percentage of consumers extremely or very likely to stay with their current plan if they had an opportunity to select another one: 61%Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute ( www.ebri.org)INFLATION General inflation since 1999: 28%Inflation since 1999 in workers’ payments for individual coverage at work: 122%Inflation since 1999 in worker’s payment for family coverage: 117%Source: Alliance for Health Reform ( www.allhealth.org). MORE INFORMATION * Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research and communications foundation emphasizing healthcare, offers a vast array of resources on healthcare issues and news: www.kff.org.* Rand Corp., a nonpartisan research organization, lets you design your own health reform plan via a computer-simulation game: www.randcompare.org. * Alliance for Health Reform, a nonpartisan organization promoting affordable healthcare for all Americans, provides a useful guidebook and briefings on health issues: www.allhealth.org.