Around 140,000,000 tax returns are filed each year; say half of those are joint. That would yield a total of $210 million at $1 per taxpayer. A pittance
I could only find figures on health care spending for 2011, but let's use those figures. They would amount to $2.7 trillion (or $8,680 per person):
• Hospital Care: Hospital spending increased 4.3 percent to $850.6 billion in 2011 compared to
4.9-percent growth in 2010. The slower growth in 2011 was influenced by a slowdown in price
growth and continued low growth in the use of hospital services. Medicaid spending on hospital
services slowed in 2011, while private health insurance and Medicare hospital spending
accelerated.
• Physician and Clinical Services: Spending on physician and clinical services increased
4.3 percent in 2011 to $541.4 billion, accelerating from 3.1- percent growth in 2010. Although
growth in prices slowed, nonprice factors such as use and intensity of services increased faster in
2011. Spending by private health insurance and Medicare, the two largest payers of physician
and clinical services, both accelerated in 2011.
• Other Professional Services: Spending for other professional services reached $73.2 billion in
2011, increasing 4.9 percent and slightly faster than growth of 4.6 percent in 2010. Spending in
this category includes establishments that provide services such as physical therapy, optometry,
podiatry, and chiropractic medicine.
• Dental Services: Spending for dental services increased 3.0 percent in 2011 to $108.4 billion,
increasing slightly faster than in 2010 when growth was 2.7 percent. Out-of-pocket spending for
dental services (which accounts for approximately 40 percent of all dental spending) increased
4.1 percent in 2011 following growth of 0.7 percent in 2010.
• Other Health, Residential, and Personal Care Services: Spending for other health, residential,
and personal care services grew 4.0 percent in 2011 to $133.1 billion, a deceleration from growth
of 4.5 percent in 2010. This category includes expenditures for medical services that are
generally delivered by providers in non-traditional settings such as schools, community centers,
the workplace, ambulance providers, and residential mental health and substance abuse facilities.
• Home Health Care: Spending growth for freestanding home health care agencies slowed in
2011, increasing 4.5 percent to $74.3 billion following growth of 5.8 percent in 2010. Medicare
and Medicaid spending, which account for slightly over 80 percent of total home health care
spending, both grew at a slower rate in 2011 than in 2010.
• Nursing Care Facilities and Continuing Care Retirement Communities: Spending for
freestanding nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities increased
4.4 percent in 2011 to $149.3 billion, an acceleration from growth of 3.2 percent in 2010. The
faster growth in 2011 was primarily due to a one-time sharp increase in Medicare spending for
skilled nursing facilities, which increased 16.5 percent in 2011 following 7.2-percent growth in
2010
http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/highlights.pdf
= new reply since forum marked as read
