# What are the breakdowns of where money goes in US health care
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-breakdowns-of-where-money-goes-in-us-health-care/529007
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 14, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-breakdowns-of-where-money-goes-in-us-health-care/529007 "2010-02-14T22:53:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-breakdowns-of-where-money-goes-in-us-health-care/529007/1 "2010-02-14T22:53:36Z")
We spend about 2.5 trillion a year. I know 10% (roughly $250 billion) goes to prescription drugs.
What % goes to diagnostics?
What about elective surgery?
What about emergency surgery?
What about preventative care and PCP visits?
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-breakdowns-of-where-money-goes-in-us-health-care/529007/2 "2010-02-14T23:13:26Z")
I don’t know the answer to the four specific questions you asked, but I did cover a lot of statistics in my blog:
> **[The Cost of Health Care – Part 1](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/the-cost-of-health-care-part-1/)**
>
> Health care in the US costs roughly double that of every other modern nation. At some point, given our current rate of spending increase on health care, it is expected to become unsustainable. For …
> **[The Cost of Health Care – Part 2](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/the-cost-of-health-care-part-2/)**
>
> Continuing on from part 1, I examine more theories to explain the price discrepancy of health care in the US and other nations. Wait lists decrease the number of cases of elective (optional) surger…
> **[The Cost of Health Care – Part 3](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/the-cost-of-health-care-part-3/)**
>
> Continuing to list and examine some theories for health spending: The US gives more care to the old The elderly, by a significant factor, accounts for most of all health spending. It has been theor…
> **[The Cost of Health Care – Part 4](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/the-cost-of-health-care-part-4/)**
>
> And continuing… The US pays more for pharmaceuticals According to data from the OECD, we do pay more. The average American pays about $728 every year, while as the average European pays about…
> **[The Cost of Health Care – Part 5](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/the-cost-of-health-care-part-5/)**
>
> While I detailed what I believe to be eating the majority of health spending in my previous blog, there are still some theories for why American health spending is so high. This post will cover the…
> **[The Cost of Health Care – Conclusion](https://publius2point0.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/the-cost-of-health-care-conclusion/)**
>
> The Combined Excess Costs of Health Care I have listed several theories now of where our excess spending is or may be going. The results are summarized below: Insurance Administration Overhead: $50…
I have a link to a document on elective surgery in part 2 that may answer that question for you. Part 4 gives the amount we pay for pharmaceuticals, in case you want a cite. It is roughly 10%, yes.
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### Author:  [@CTburns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CTburns)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-breakdowns-of-where-money-goes-in-us-health-care/529007/3 "2010-02-15T00:00:37Z")
I can tell you that we piss away much of it doing surgery and procedures on people who are not going to benefit from them. Say, ruptured aortic anerysm repair on a 85 year old. The futility blows my mind
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-breakdowns-of-where-money-goes-in-us-health-care/529007/4 "2010-02-15T01:17:27Z")
> [@CTburns](#):
>
> I can tell you that we piss away much of it doing surgery and procedures on people who are not going to benefit from them. Say, ruptured aortic anerysm repair on a 85 year old. The futility blows my mind
According to Peter Orszag (budget director) about $700-800 billion in health spending has no benefits, and may actually be harmful since it puts the patient at risk of side effects and other negative consequences.
And that is w/o factoring in the fact that we do expensive, radical procedures on people near death, or that a drug that costs $10 may work as well as the drug that costs $200, or that surgery can be done for 1/6th the cost in India, etc.