American prices are not just high, they also rise faster than average: Hospital spending and utilization per capita, and inferred “excess” hospital price growth across OECD countries (various years)
| Hospital utilization | Hospital spending | Implied hospital prices | Overall price level | “Excess” hospital price growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | -3.11% | 4.55% | 7.66% | 1.49% | 6.17% |
| Netherlands | -2.46% | 4.49% | 6.95% | 1.85% | 5.10% |
| Denmark | -3.39% | 6.06% | 9.44% | 4.41% | 5.04% |
| United States | -2.25% | 5.14% | 7.39% | 2.61% | 4.77% |
| Luxembourg | -2.02% | 4.72% | 6.74% | 2.05% | 4.70% |
| Norway | -0.54% | 6.09% | 6.62% | 2.08% | 4.54% |
| Sweden | -1.37% | 3.42% | 4.79% | 0.32% | 4.47% |
| Switzerland | -2.00% | 3.62% | 5.62% | 1.23% | 4.39% |
| Australia | -1.20% | 8.51% | 9.71% | 5.46% | 4.25% |
| New Zealand | 1.28% | 7.82% | 6.54% | 2.93% | 3.62% |
| Spain | -1.35% | 4.36% | 5.72% | 2.20% | 3.52% |
| France | -1.70% | 3.06% | 4.75% | 1.53% | 3.22% |
| Belgium | -1.05% | 3.82% | 4.87% | 1.95% | 2.92% |
| Japan | -1.20% | 1.61% | 2.81% | 0.12% | 2.69% |
| Germany | -1.18% | 3.06% | 4.24% | 1.58% | 2.66% |
| Austria | -1.15% | 3.36% | 4.51% | 1.88% | 2.63% |
| Ireland | -1.61% | 1.37% | 2.98% | 0.42% | 2.56% |
| Italy | -2.79% | 0.29% | 3.08% | 0.52% | 2.55% |
| United Kingdom | 0.46% | 3.58% | 3.12% | 0.94% | 2.17% |
| Canada | -0.47% | 5.71% | 6.18% | 4.03% | 2.15% |
| Iceland | -1.91% | 4.89% | 6.80% | 5.13% | 1.67% |
| United States | -2.25% | 5.14% | 7.39% | 2.61% | 4.77% |
| Non-U.S. median | -1.36% | 4.09% | 5.67% | 1.87% | 3.37% |
| Non-U.S. average | -1.44% | 4.22% | 5.66% | 2.11% | 3.55% |
| Non-U.S. minimum | -3.39% | 0.29% | 2.81% | 0.12% | 1.67% |
| Non-U.S. maximum | 1.28% | 8.51% | 9.71% | 5.46% | 6.17% |
Notes: Countries in our data set had different first and last years of data availability. For each country, the average annual change that characterized their entire spell of data was constructed. The annual change in the overall price was constructed to map onto the same period of data availability for hospital utilization and spending. “Excess” hospital price growth is price implied by the difference between the percent growth of hospital spending per capita and hospital utilization, minus the percent growth in overall prices. For this comparison we only included countries in the data who had achieved roughly comparable levels of productivity to the United States by 2010 (60 percent or more of the U.S. productivity level).
Sources: Data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development Health Statistics and Main Economic Indicators (OECD 2018a, 2018b). Utilization measured as the product of total hospital discharges and average length of hospital stays. Data on hospital discharges in the United States are from Hall et al. 2010.