Roughly 81 percent of the $3.5 trillion in total healthcare expenditures in the United States are reported in the CMS' National Health Expenditure Accounts, according to a Deloitte report.
If 81 percent is reported, that begs the question: What makes up the 19 percent that isn't reported? Below are five things to know about the $672 billion in hidden healthcare costs each year not reported in the NHEA.
1. Supervisory care — including unpaid care at home provided by a family member or friend of someone with limited self-care capacity — makes up 15 percent of the unreported costs.
2. Expenditures on vitamins, minerals, functional foods and other specialty supplements make up 2 percent of non-NHEA spending.
3. One percent of the costs come from complementary and alternative medicine services and products such as naturopathy, yoga, acupuncture and massage, to name a few.
4. Community care homes for the elderly make up another 1 percent of unreported spending.
5. Ambulatory care, weight-reducing centers, health publications and other costs make up the last 1 percent of hidden healthcare costs.
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