Health-care expenditures in North Dakota were estimated at $3.984 billion in 2004. That is an increase of almost 8 percent per year, on average, since 2000.

This month’s “Economic Brief,” a monthly publication from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University, focuses on health-care spending by type of establishment, such as hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, and for medical products, such as prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and durable medical products (eyeglasses and hearing aids), purchased at retail outlets.

The estimates are based on the location of the provider, not the purchaser’s state of residence. The estimates provide a useful measure in determining the role of health-care spending in North Dakota’s economy. In 2004, the state added almost $23 billion to its economy through the production of goods and services, which is commonly referred to as gross state product. In that same year, approximately $4 billion was spent on health care in the state.

“This comparison demonstrates the sizeable cost of health-care in North Dakota,” says Richard Rathge, State Data Center director. “Health-care spending will grow as the leading edge of the baby boomers turns 65 in less than two years.”

In 2004, hospital care accounted for 43 percent of health-care spending in North Dakota ($1.7 billion). Physician and clinical services captured 21 percent ($836 million). Prescription drugs purchased in North Dakota, which comprised 12 percent of the total health-care spending statewide in 2004 ($459 million), increased an average of 14 percent per year from 2000 through 2004.

Nursing home care in North Dakota, which was 10 percent of the total spending in 2004 ($396 million), has increased, on average, 4 percent per year since 2000. Nationally, an estimated $1.6 trillion was spent on health care in 2004. From 2000 through 2004, spending nationwide grew an average of 8 percent per year. North Dakota represented 0.3 percent of the total personal health-care spending nationwide in 2004.

NDSU Agriculture Communication