OECD data on health care spending

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has a new study (see here) on health care spending.  Below is a graph (click to enlarge) from the study that compares total health care spending as a percent of GDP for OECD countries for 2009.

The study finds that:

In 2009, there were large variations in how much OECD countries spent on health and the health spending share of GDP. The United States continued to outspend all other OECD countries by a wide margin, with spending on health per capita of $7960. This was two-and-a-half times more than the OECD average of $3223. 

I have posted previously about the new study from the National Institute of Health Care Management (see here) that investigates health care spending in the United States.  They have a graph (see below, click to enlarge) that details the cost drivers for the high cost of health care in the U. S.