Federal Health Care Expenses

2006, Dollars in millions.
Here are the numbers for Federal health care expenditures. By way of background, Medicare Part A, hospitalization, is paid from payroll deductions while Parts B and D are paid from premiums and general revenues. Part A is currently self funding, but projected to fall into major deficit in the short and long run. In addition, Parts B and D are drawing from the general funds at a level that requires the President to propose modifications by 2009. What all of that means is the costs of health care are expected to increase dramatically and there has been no trust fund established for the bulk of the costs.

All of the numbers come from Tables 2.4, 3.2, and 8.5 of The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2008 Budget Of The United States Government Fiscal Year 2008 Historical Tables except for Premiums, Taxes on Benefits and Interest which came from Status of Social Security and Medicare Programs, A Summary Of The 2007 Annual Report.

To sum this up, the Federal Government spends 22.7 cents of every dollar it collects (over and above payroll deductions) on health care. If you are an "average" taxpayer making $50,000 per year and paying 12.45% of your income in federal taxes, then you are contributing $1,414 to health care from income taxes and $725 from payroll deductions (1.45%) for a grand total of $2,139.00. This is in addition to any non-governmental health care you may be paying for.

For Social Security go here.
For welfare go here.
For the balance of the budget go here.

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