U.S. national health spending hit $4.9 trillion in 2023, a figure that’s on par with the entire economies of major countries and large multinational corporations. For context, Germany’s economy was valued around $5 trillion in 2024, and forecasters predict India will reach the $5 trillion mark by 2026. In the corporate world, investors have speculated that tech giants like Nvidia or Amazon could achieve $5 trillion market valuations in coming years.
Amid these global benchmarks, America’s $4.9 trillion health spending underscores just how large and influential healthcare is in the U.S. economy. The spending, detailed in the latest CMS report published in Health Affairs, equaled $14,570 per person and made up 17.6% of the nation’s economy—nearly returning to the same share as before COVID-19 disrupted the system.