Direct Spending on Healthcare
The typical non-elderly family in the United States spends $5,600 per year (9% of their $65,352 income) on health. This includes $1,400 (2% of their income) in out-of-pocket health spending, $2,200 (3% of their income) in health insurance premiums, and approximately $2,000 (3% of their income) in state and federal taxes that fund health programs. The premium and out-of-pocket cost in this scenario represent the average premium and average out-of-pocket cost paid by all families with non-elderly adults regardless of insurance coverage source. The average family consists of 2 adults and 1 child.
Note: Percentages for each health spending category may not add up to the total share of income spent on healthcare due to rounding.
Additional Contributions by Employers
Workers are not taxed on the contributions their employers make toward health insurance premiums. On average across all families (including those without employer coverage), we estimate employers contribute $9,000 to health insurance premiums, and that the employer of the typical family illustrated above would contribute an additional $950 in Medicare payroll taxes. These amounts are not shown in the chart above, but economists generally believe that they offset wages.
When combined, the typical family’s spending on health care and the money spent by their employer on their behalf totals $15,550.
The Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF are partnering to monitor how well the U.S. healthcare system is performing in terms of quality and cost.
