Health spending in the United States averaged $8,086 per person in 2009, totaling $2.5 trillion, or 17.6% of our nation's economy, up from 7.2% of GDP in 1970 and 12.5% of GDP in 1990

When the U.S. population is ranked by their health care expenditures, the 1% who spent more than $44,000 on health care was responsible for 20% of health care spending in 2008

45 million nonelderly Americans were uninsured in 2007, and eight in ten were in families with at least one worker

Medicare covers 44 million Americans --16% of whom are under age 65 and disabled -- at a projected cost of $420 billion in 2009

Medicare accounts for 14% of the total federal budget, more than the 7% accounted for by Medicaid, but a smaller share than Social Security (22%) or defense (20%)

The average premium for family health coverage through an employer was $15,073 in 2011, of which covered workers paid an average of $4,129

From 1999 to 2011, family premiums for employer-sponsored insurance increased 160 percent, while wages went up 50 percent and inflation has gone up 38 percent

The annual increase in national health spending per capita exceeds the increase in the Consumer Price Index, 3.1% vs. -0.4% in 2009

The 24% of Medicaid enrollees who were elderly or disabled accounted for 70% of the program's $275 billion in federal and state spending on services in 2005 while only 30% of spending was for the 45 million children and adults who make up 76% of total enrollment

Medicaid pays 41% of all the nation's long-term care costs -- making it by far the largest payer for long-term care