Medical costs were at 17.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015 according to the USCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the National Health Expenditure Fact Sheet. They are almost certainly higher today.
The US economy has been growing at less than 2% per year over the past few decades. Here, from Kaiser Foundation, is the stark reality, in one graph,
I was intrigued by Duncan’s comment about the lack of substantial cost savings associated with Advance Care Directives. Here’s a link to a NEJM article (by Ezekiel Emanuel, etc.) summarizing other studies and providing some thoughts on why the savings are small(ish). The one that caught my attention is that a substantial proportion of folks, when given the choice, choose to continue aggressive intervention. And the cost of “quality” hospice care isn’t much lower than medical treatment (???).