It appears that healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP has stabilized. While it reached close to 20% of GDP during the pandemic, in 2022 healthcare spending (17.3% of GDP) was more in line with pre-pandemic norms. Hartman et al. (2023) reports:
U.S. healthcare spending grew 4.1 percent to $4.5 trillion in 2022, still a faster growth rate than the 3.2 percent increase in 2021 , but much slower than the 10.6 percent rate seen in 2020. In 2022, growth in spending on Medicaid and private health insurance, including a change in the net cost of insurance, was somewhat offset by continued declines in federal spending associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The insured share of the population reached an all-time high of 92.0 percent in 2022, as private health insurance enrollment increased at a faster rate relative to 2021 and Medicaid enrollment continued to see strong growth. The share of the economy represented by the health sector was 17.3 percent in 2022, down from a peak of 19.5 percent in 2020, but more consistent with the average share of 17.5 percent during 2016-19.
Pharmaceutical spending as a percentage of total healthcare spending has remained relatively constant at around 9% over the past seven years.
You can read more interesting statistics in the full article here.
