Healthcare costs and fees
Credit: Getty/Prapass Pulsub

In 2017, Americans spent an average of $10,209 per capita on health care, more than any developed nation. That figure is perhaps unsurprising given the patchwork, largely privatized system in place in the United States. And while a per capita figure like $10,209 sounds high, it is an overall average, meaning it says nothing of how that money is distributed between people of different means. Now, a new study putting this in context reveals that the American health care system is even more horrifically classist than we knew.

The new study from the RAND corporation, a nonprofit global policy think tank, found that healthcare payments account for a far greater proportional share of income for low-income households than high-income households. The study was published in the journal Health Services Research. The RAND researchers found that U.S. households in the bottom fifth of income cohorts pay an average of 33.9 percent of their income toward health care. Families in the highest income group pay 16 percent of their income toward health care. For […]