Health Care
To better measure spending trends and treatment prices, BEA developed a set of supplemental statistics called the Health Care Satellite Account. The satellite account measures U.S. health care spending by the diseases being treated (for example, cancer or diabetes) instead of by the types of goods and services purchased (such as doctor's office visits or drugs).
Statistics from BEA's Health Care Satellite Account give policymakers, researchers and the public another way of understanding the economics of health care. At the same time, BEA continues to produce the traditional goods-and-services health care estimates that are part of its core statistics, such as gross domestic product. Read more.
- This data disaggregates spending and treated prevalence for over 260 disease categories.
- Blended Account: 2000-2021 XLSX | December 27, 2023
Blended Detailed Diseases: 2000-2021 XLSX | January 8, 2024 - MEPS Account: 2000-2021 XLSX | December 27, 2023
- This data maps BEA health care estimates to the health sector mapping reflected in the National Health Expenditures Account (NHEA)
- BEA Data Applying NHEA Framework 1959-2023 XLSX | April 10, 2024
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Health Care Satellite Account
- BEA Blog: Health Care Statistics Updated With Improved Drug Price Data | Data XLSX | September 18, 2023
- BEA Blog: New Health Care Statistics for First Year of COVID-19 Pandemic February 10, 2023
- BEA Blog: BEA Releases for the First Time Detailed Data on More than 200 Medical Conditions June 4, 2018
- Working Paper: High Spending Growth Rates For Key Diseases In 2000–14 Were Driven By Technology And Demographic Factors June 4, 2018
- Health Care Spending Slowdown From 2000 To 2010 Was Driven By Lower Growth In Cost Per Case, According To A New Data Source January 2016
- Introducing the New Health Care Satellite Account PDF | January 2015
NHEA Framework
- BEA Blog: Experimental Data Map Health Care Estimates in GDP to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Framework September 25, 2023
About These Estimates
The Health Care Satellite Account
Within the satellite account, there are two different sets of disease-based statistics. One version uses data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the only nationally representative survey that contains detailed expenditure information by disease. BEA calls this the "MEPS Account." Because of its relatively small sample size, the MEPS Account produces more volatile estimates across years. To address this issue, we also produce the "Blended Account," which blends together data from multiple sources, including large claims databases that cover millions of enrollees and billions of claims.
Looking at spending by disease is a first step toward BEA's goal of developing an account that allows better assessment of value in health care spending. BEA continues to conduct research to expand and improve its health statistics.
BEA Data Applying NHEA Health Sector Mapping
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) produce detailed national data on spending by place of service and by payer. BEA's National Income and Product Accounts produce national health care statistics, but do not produce statistics split out by payer. There are methodological differences between the two accounts.
NHEA is one of the most widely cited sources for measuring expenditures in the health sector and is commonly used to measure health care as a share of GDP. BEA Data Applying NHEA Framework utilizes BEA data to produce timely estimates using NHEA health sector mapping to generate greater comparability between the estimates. Policymakers and the public can use these estimates to obtain a snapshot of the health sector, in a form comparable to the NHEA data.
Research Publications and Working Papers
- A Reconciliation of Health Care Expenditures in the National Health Expenditures Accounts and in Gross Domestic Product PDF Robert Kornfeld , Micah Hartman, Nathan A. Espinosa, Regina L. Butler, and Aaron Catlin - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper (WP2020-8)
- Introducing the New Health Care Satellite Account PDF Abe Dunn, Lindsey Rittmueller and Bryn Whitmire - Survey of Current Business, January 2015
- Recent Research on Disease-Based Price Indexes: Where Do We Stand? PDF Ana Aizcorbe - Survey of Current Business, July 2013
- Household Consumption Expenditures for Medical Care: An Alternate Presentation PDF Ana Aizcorbe, Eli B. Liebman, David M. Cutler, and Allison B. Rosen - Survey of Current Business, June 2012
- A Reconciliation of Health Care Expenditures in the National Health Expenditure Accounts and in Gross Domestic Product PDF Caitlin (CMS), Hartman (CMS), Kornfeld (BEA) - Survey of Current Business, September 2010
- Toward a Health Care Satellite Account PDF Ana Aizcorbe, Bonnie Retus, and Shelly Smith - Survey of Current Business, May 2008
- US Health Care Spending by Payer and Health Condition, 1996-2016 PDF Joseph L. Dieleman, Jackie Cao, and Abby Chapin, Jama Network, March 2020
- Consequences of a shortage and rationing: Evidence from a pediatric vaccine PDF Eli Liebman, Emily C. Lawler, Abe Dunn, and David B. Ridley, Journal of Health Economics, December 2023
- Are Medical Care Prices Still Declining? A Re-examination Based on Cost-Effectiveness Studies PDF Dunn, Abe, Anne Hall and Seidu Dauda - Econometrica, Forethcoming
- Spending by Condition for the Long-Term Care Population Using Medicaid Claims Abe C. Dunn , Peter Shieh , Lasanthi Fernando, and Charles Roehrig - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper (WP2020-10)
- Quantifying Productivity Growth in the Delivery of Important Episodes of Care Within the Medicare Program Using Insurance Claims and Administrative Data PDF John A. Romley, Dana Goldman, Neeraj Sood, and Abe Dunn - NBER Book Series Studies in Income and Wealth, Forthcoming
- Productivity Growth in Treating a Major Chronic Health Condition PDF John A. Romley, Dana Goldman, Neeraj Sood, and Abe Dunn - Hutchins Center Working Paper #61, May 2020
- Price Indexes for US Medical Care Spending, 1980–2006 PDF Ana Aizcorbe and Tina Highfill - Review of Income and Wealth, Series 66, Number 1, March 2020
- Working Paper: Are Medical Prices Still Declining? PDF Seidu Dauda, Abe C. Dunn, and Anne E. Hall - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper (WP2019-3)
- Using disability adjusted life years to value the treatment of thirty chronic conditions in the U.S. from 1987 to 2010: a proof of concept PDF Tina Highfill - International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Vol. 19, pages 449–466, April 2019
- An Updated Analysis of the Roles of Cost per Case and Treated Prevalence in Health Spending Growth PDF Charles Roehrig and Craig Lake - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper (WP2017-8)
- A Comparison of Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics Disease-Price Indexes PDF Charles Roehrig - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper (WP2017-3)
- U.S. Spending on Personal Health Care and Public Health, 1996-2013 PDF Joseph Dieleman, Ranju Baral, Tina Highfill, et al - The Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 316, Number 24, pages 2627-2646, December 2016
- Adjusting Health Expenditures for Inflation: A Review of Measures for Health Services Research in the United States PDF Abe Dunn, Scott Grosse and Samuel Zuvekas - Health Services Research, November 2016
- Health Care Spending Slowdown From 2000 To 2010 Was Driven By Lower Growth In Cost Per Case, According To A New Data Source Abe Dunn, Lindsey Rittmueller and Bryn Whitmire - Health Affairs, Vol 35(1) pgs 132-140, January 2016
- Implications of Utilization Shifts on Medical-Care Price Measurement PDF Abe Dunn, Adam Shapiro and Eli Liebman. Health Economics. Vol. 24(5) Pages 539-537. May 2015
- Estimating Regression Based Medical Care Expenditure Indexes for Medicare Advantage Enrollees PDF Anne Hall – BEA Working Paper (WP2014-11)
- Defining Disease Episodes and the Effects on the Components of Expenditure Growth PDF Abe Dunn, Eli Liebman, Lindsey Rittmueller, and Adam Shapiro. Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper (WP2014-4)
- Do Physicians Possess Market Power? PDF Abe Dunn and Adam Shapiro - Journal of Law and Economics Vol(57) February 2014
- Decomposing Medical-Care Expenditure Growth PDF Abe Dunn, Eli Liebman, and Adam Shapiro.Measuring and Modeling Health Care Costs, NBER Volume, ed. by Aizcorbe, Baker, Berndt, Cutler. University of Chicago, January 2014
- A Regression-Based Medical Care Expenditure Index for Medicare Beneficiaries PDF Anne E. Hall, Tina Highfill - BEA Working Paper (WP2013-4)
- Medical Care Price Indexes for Patients with Employer-Provided Insurance: Nationally-Representative Estimates from MarketScan Data PDF Abe Dunn, Eli B. Liebman, Sarah Pack, Adam Shapiro - Health Services Research, October 2012
- Drug Innovations and Welfare Measures Computed from Market Demand: The Case of Anti-Cholesterol Drugs PDF | Article Summary PDF Abe Dunn - American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4 (3): 167-89, July 2012
- Price Indexes for Prescription Drugs: A Review of the Issues PDF Ana Aizcorbe and Nicole Nestoriak - In The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of the Biopharmaceutical Industry, Danzon and Nicholson, eds. March 2012
- Changing Mix of Medical Care Services: Stylized Facts and Implications for Price Indexes PDF Ana Aizcorbe and Nicole Nestoriak - Journal of Health Economics, 30 (3): 568-574, May 2011
- Alternative Price Indexes for Medical Care: Evidence from the MEPS Survey PDF Aizcorbe, Bradley (BLS), Herauf, Kane, Liebman, Pack, Rozental (BLS) - BEA Working Paper (WP2011-01)
- Physician payments under health care reform PDF Abe Dunn and Adam Shapiro, Journal of Health Economics, January 2015
- Physician Competition and the Provision of Care: Evidence from Heart Attacks PDF Abe Dunn and Adam Shapiro, American Journal of Health Economics, Spring 2018
- Health Insurance and the Demand for Medical Care: Instrumental Variable Estimates Using Health Insurer Claims Data PDF Abe Dunn - Journal of Health Economics, July 2016
- Geographic Variation in Commercial Medical-Care Expenditures: A Framework for Decomposing Price and Utilization PDF Abe Dunn, Adam Shapiro, and Eli B. Liebman - Journal of Health Economics, (2013), 32(6) pgs 1153- 1165. Technical Appendix
- Physician Market Power and Medical-Care Expenditures PDF | Article Summary PDF] Abe Dunn and Adam Shapiro - BEA Working Paper (WP2012-06)
- The Complexity of Billing and Paying for Physician Care PDF Joshua Gottlieb, Adam Hale Shapiro, and Abe Dunn - Health Affairs, 37(4) , April 2018
- Attribution of Health Care Costs to Diseases: Does the Method Matter? PDF Allison B. Rosen, Ana Aizcorbe, Tina Highfill, Michael E. Chernew, Eli Liebman, Kaushik Ghosh, and David M. Cutler - University of Chicago Press, February 2018
- Correcting for the 2007 MEPS Discontinuity in Medical Condition Spending and Treated Prevalence PDF Charles Roehrig - Altarum Center for Sustainable Health Spending Technical Report, June 2016
- Comparing Estimates of U.S. Health Care Expenditures by Medical Condition, 2000–2012 PDF Tina Highfill, Survey of Current Business, March 2016
- Measuring Nursing Home Price Growth between 2000-2009 PDF Tina Highfill and David Johnson - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper, July 2015
- Adjusting the Measurement of the Output of the Medical Sector for Quality: A Review of the Literature PDF Anne Hall - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper, June 2015
- Does Medicare Part D Save Lives? PDF Abe Dunn and Adam Hale Shapiro - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper, February 3, 2015
- Developing a Framework for Decomposing Medical-Care Expenditure Growth: Exploring Issues of Representativeness PDF Abe Dunn, Eli Liebman and Adam Hale Shapiro - in Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, NBER Book Series Studies in Income and Wealth, September 2014. Dale Jorgenson, Steven Landefeld, and Paul Schreyer, eds.
- Using Disability Adjusted Life Years to Value the Treatment of Thirty Chronic Conditions in the U.S. from 1987-2010 PDF Tina Highfill and Elizabeth Bernstein - BEA Working Paper (WP2014-9)
- Calculating Disease-Based Medical Care Expenditure Indexes for Medicare Beneficiaries: A Comparison of Method and Data Choices PDF Anne E. Hall and Tina Highfill - Bureau of Economic Analysis Working Paper, November 2013
- Comparing Commercial Systems for Characterizing Episodes of Care PDF Allison B. Rosen, Eli Liebman, Ana Aizcorbe, and David M. Cutler - BEA Working Paper (WP2012-7)
- Measuring Health Care Costs of Individuals with Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance in the U.S.: A Comparison of Survey and Claims Data PDF | Article Summary PDF Ana Aizcorbe, Eli B. Liebman, Sarah Pack, David M. Cutler, Michael Chernew, Alison B. Rosen – Statistical Journal of the IAOS 28 (2012) 43–51, 2012
- Disease-Based Health Care Measures and the Industry Economic Accounts PDF Patricia A. Washington, Daniel W. Jackson, and David B. Wasshausen, Survey of Current Business, November 18, 2015
- Measuring Productivity for the US Health Sector PDF Ana Aizcorbe, Gabriel Medeiros and Erich Strassner – Presented at Canadian Economic Association annual meetings in Montreal, Canada, May 26, 2013
- Appendix C: Adapting BEA's National and Industry Accounts for a Health Care Satellite Account PDF Brent R. Moulton, Brian C. Moyer and Ana Aizcorbe – Strategies for a BEA Satellite Health Care Account: Summary of a Workshop , March 2008