Tracking the U.S. health sector: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Health spending has grown faster than the U.S. economy for decades and currently represents approximately 18% of gross domestic product. As with other sectors of the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on this growth of the health sector and the labor force that supports it. This paper examines that impact, describing how health care spending, employment, and prices have evolved since the start of the pandemic, using data from the authors’ Health Sector Economic Indicators (HSEI) series. After unprecedented drops in March and April of 2020, both spending and employment have gradually recovered but, by the end of the summer, remained below their pre-COVID levels. Prices, on the other hand, have continued to rise. The paper compares these patterns with those observed in earlier recessions and describes some likely reasons for them.