title: Most Americans Have Good Health, Little Unmet Need, And Few Health Care Expenses.
abstract: The distribution of health care expenditures remains highly concentrated, but most Americans use few health care resources and have low out-of-pocket spending. More than 93 percent of "low spenders" (those in the bottom half of the population) believe they have received all needed care in a timely manner. The low spending by the majority of the population has remained almost unchanged during the thirty-seven-year period examined.
authors.affiliation: Marc L. Berk (mberk@projecthope.org) is a contributing editor to Health Affairs, in Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Marc L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Berk
authors.affiliation: Zhengyi Fang is a senior programmer and analyst for the Health Policy and Data Analysis Group at Social and Scientific Systems, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
authors.forename: Zhengyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
keywords: Access To Care; Cost of Health Care; Health Spending; Insurance Market < Insurance