Most public spending on health care spent on elderly

A study published on the Web site for the journal Health Affairs has determined that government spending on health care goes disproportionately to seniors and those in poor health, but it is fairly evenly distributed among all income levels (Source: “The Distribution Of Public Spending For Health Care In The United States, 2002,” HealthAffairs.com, July 28, 2008).

Economists Thomas Selden and Merrile Sing of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality concluded that  56.1 percent of all health-care spending in 2002 was from public sources.

In terms of age, the average senior received $6,921 in public spending, compared to $1,225 for the average child. Selden and Sing also reported that because Medicare and tax subsidies are not “means tested,” public spending on health was not as highly concentrated on the poor as many believe. In fact, 45.8 percent of public money in 2002 was spent on people in families with incomes greater than four times the federal poverty level.