Health care spending has exceeded economic growth in every recent decade. Over the last four decades, the average growth in health spending has exceeded the growth of the economy as a whole by between and percentage points (Figure 2). Since 1970, health care spending per capita has grown at an average annual rate of or percentage points faster than nominal GDP. The persistence of this trend suggests systematic differences between health care and other economic sectors where growth rates are typically more in line with the overall economy. A smaller difference is.
