People generally think of their health spending as the amount paid for monthly premium contributions, as well as any out-of-pocket costs toward medical care or prescription drugs. However, a significant portion of health spending is not as visible to people in their everyday lives. This less direct health spending includes state and federal income taxes that fund health programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and Medicare payroll taxes. Additionally, people with employer-sponsored insurance receive additional compensation in the form of tax-preferred contributions (including workers’ and their employer’s contribution) to their health insurance premiums.

This interactive tool combines several publicly available data sources to examine how much individuals and families in the United States spend on health each year, both directly and indirectly. Use the dropdown menus to explore more scenarios and trends in household health spending.

The tool is available on the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker, a partnership between the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF that monitors the U.S. health system’s performance on key quality and cost measures.