What percent of our nation's (United States) healthcare spending is
accounted for by those who are 65 years of age and older?

Hello Achappel,


According to Gastroenterologic Surgery: Encyclopedia of Surgery, the
elderly account for approximately 60% of health care expenditures.

It is not surprising that the elderly account for approximately 60% of
health care expenditures, 35% of hospital discharges, and 47% of
hospital days.

Gastroenterologic Surgery: Encyclopedia of Surgery
http://health.enotes.com/surgery-encyclopedia/gastroenterologic-surgery


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From Seniormag:

?Seniors account for 60% of all healthcare spending.
They purchase 74% of all prescription drugs and buy 51% of all over-the counter
Drugs.?

Seniormag
http://www.seniormag.com/seniormagmk.pdf


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50% of healthcare spending is  spent on the elderly.

?Meanwhile, nearly half of any wealthy nation's healthcare spending is
placed on the over-65 year olds, and their per capita healthcare costs
runs up to five times that of those under that age.?

United Press International
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:GXp2CEN_EJAJ:www.upi.com/view.cfm%3FStoryID%3D14052002-120405-9746r+%22healthcare+spending%22+billion+elderly+&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=16


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?The elderly account for one-third of all health care expenditures,
states the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2002), and this
cost is expected to rise an additional 25% by the year 2030. They
claim many benefits to exercising ?
http://masterswork.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_masterswork_archive.html



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Search terms used: 
?health expenditures" elderly OR seniors
Healthcare spending seniors OR elderly

I hope the information provided is helpful!

Best regards,
Bobbie7

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Request for Answer Clarification by achappel-ga on 18 May 2006 19:55 PDT

Do you know why the estimates vary so much (33%-60%)?

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 18 May 2006 20:42 PDT

I believe the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #81
published in May 2005 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality provides reliable data and will explain why the estimates
vary.

Concentration of Health Care Expenditures in the U.S. Civilian
Noninstitutionalized Population

?The Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
(MEPS-HC) provides essential information for assessing trends in the
concentration of health care expenditures in the U.S. civilian
noninstitutionalized population.?

Download here:
http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/papers/st81/stat81.pdf

Please see figure 3 on page 5.
Concentration of health care expenditures in the U.S. civilian
noninstitutionalized population (age >=65 years)
Population ranked by expenditures 

The concentration of expenditures for the top 1, 5, and 10 percent of
the elderly population was 12, 34, and 50 percent, respectively
(figure 3).


I hope this helps!

Sincerely, 
Bobbie7

Answered primary question satisfactorially.  Answer to follow-up
question was indirect.