Amounts Spent For Office-based Medical And Dental Care, USA

Insurers, government agencies and patients spent a total of $896 billion for health care for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2003, according to HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Following are estimates of total expenditures for selected types of office-based services, the percentage of people with such expenses, and average annual expenditures (for those with expenses), respectively.


These statistics are based on the 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and were abstracted from the MEPS 2003 Compendium of Tables on Medical Expenditures on the AHRQ-MEPS website click here to view it.


-- Physicians $130.7 billion; 68 percent; $663.

-- General dentists $48.6 billion; 40 percent; $417.

-- Orthodontists $10.4 billion; 2.2 percent; $1,646.

-- Nurses or nurse practitioners $7.7 billion; 9.3 percent; $284.

-- Optometrists $2 billion; 6 percent; $119.

-- Physical or occupational therapists $8.8 billion; 2.6 percent; $1,140.

-- Chiropractors $5.5 billion; 4.2 percent; $448.


The MEPS Compendium of Tables also contains various other types of health care expenditure estimates and service categories, as well as breakdowns of the data by age, sex, race/ethnicity, health insurance status, and other characteristics.


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