Personal Healthcare Spending: Potential Impacts of Income and Population Growth in Eight U.S. Economic Regions

Abstract

Per capita income has been used as a key component in the analysis of healthcare spending and the focus for key elements within healthcare policy. The purpose of this article is to analyze the changes in personal healthcare spending and population growth, in response to changes in per capita income, providing some insight as to whether this key indicator should be used singularly or in conjunction with other key indicators. Four secondary data sources were used for this research: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis personal income summary, U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) personal healthcare dollars summary and American Medical Association (AMA) Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) calculations. State level data sources for income, spending and population growth reported data for 1991 to 2014. HHI data as sourced from the AMA includes data for 2012 to 2017. The method used was a retrospective longitudinal study, using multiple regression methodology to analyze U.S. per capita personal healthcare spending by region. Key findings indicate strong correlation between per capita income and healthcare spending, while the relationship between population growth and healthcare spending is limited.