Health care spending hit $3.07 trillion in 2019

Health care spending increased from $2.69 trillion to $3.07 trillion between 2016 and 2019 — an increase of 14.3%, according to a report from ValuePenguin. The biggest increases were on mental illness (29.4%), neoplasms (22.8%), infectious & parasitic diseases (19%) and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and immunity disorders (18.3%).

While spending on most medical conditions are increasing, influenza is seeing particularly large increases. Flu treatment costs and the number of diagnoses increased by 120.4% and 121.3% respectively, according to the report.

Spending on administrative and social admission increased 24.2% between 2016 and 2019 and 15.8% on a per-case basis. Non-prescription pharmaceutical products grew 12.7%.

"Salary growth isn’t keeping up with rising health care expenses, and many Americans accrue medical debt as a result,” said Robin Townsend, a health care analyst with ValuePenguin, in a statement. “The financial burden of health care is causing many Americans to delay or skip medical treatment, which can raise health care expenses further. While 52.9% of Americans opted for high-deductible health plans to keep their insurance rates down, policy holders end up sharing a larger portion of the cost of their care adding to the problem."