Health and Human Services Spending since 2003

The recent Texas Ebola outbreak has caused a political frenzy with mutual-blame casting by Republicans and Democrats. I looked up the official outlays as published by the U.S. Treasury. While we have had an increasing budget for several decades in terms of raw dollars, once adjusted for inflation and population growth, those budgets look increasingly anemic. Below are four separate budgets from the Health and Human Services, which is the agency most tied into U.S. health, as well as specifically preparedness for infectious disease control. The first two graphs are the total relevant budgets for the the National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control from 2003-2014, adjusted for inflation (in 2014 $), and population growth. Both budgets have dropped during the time period shown, from 2003-2014. The CDC budget has dropped from $20.07 per person in 2003 to $19.95 today. The NIH budget has dropped from $101.33 per person in 2003 to $97.57 per person today.

The second set of charts organizes the data slightly differently. Within the Health and Human Services Budgets, there are three separate agencies that engage in "health care research and training": NIH, CDC and HRSA. Two of these, the HRSA and CDC also have budgets for "health care services." I have aggregated these two categories of outlays, and depicted both the inflation-adjusted spending per-capita, and spending as a percent of real GDP. The health care research and training budget (inflation adjusted per capita) has doubled since 1979, but when compared to real GDP, spending on health care research and training as actually gone down, from 0.76% to 0.65%. Per capita, this budget has declined since 2003. Similarly, the HRSA and CDC budgets for direct health care have gone up (inflation adjusted per capita), not quite doubling from $24.35 to $40.21, but has decreased when compared to our real GDP, from 0.37% to 0.25%. Per capita, this budget has remained approximately the same since 2003.

Year	CDC Outlays (Inflation-Adjusted/Capita, 2014$)	NIH Outlays (Inflation-Adjusted/Capita, 2014$)	CDC Total Outlays (in millions)	NIH Total Outlays (in millions)	Health Care Research and Training (CDC+HRSA+NIH; Inflation Adjusted Per Capita)	Health Care Research and Training (as % of Real GDP)	Health Care Services (CDC+HRSA; Inflation adjusted per capita)	Health Care Services (as % of Real GDP)	Health Resources and Services Administration-Health care services	Health Resources and Services Administration-Health research and training	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Health care services	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Health research and training	National Institutes of Health-Health research and training	CPI	Population (in millions)
1979	3.63	43.67	238335	2869567	49.41	0.76%	24.35	0.37%	1417014	321648	182947	55388	2869567	68.3	225.06
1980	3.46	42.64	261502	3222305	48.94	0.75%	22.48	0.35%	1500392	412741	198362	63140	3222305	77.8	227.22
1981	3.52	42.23	300028	3603805	48.52	0.74%	19.81	0.30%	1470106	457519	220341	79687	3603805	87	229.47
1982	3.46	39.24	323137	3664695	44.22	0.68%	19.08	0.29%	1545563	378315	236376	86761	3664695	94.3	231.66
1983	3.70	38.36	361590	3749649	42.37	0.61%	15.09	0.22%	1174389	330608	300839	60751	3749649	97.8	233.79
1984	3.51	40.47	360128	4157294	42.70	0.58%	14.66	0.20%	1202976	171545	303007	57121	4157294	101.9	235.82
1985	3.43	43.52	368489	4670264	45.92	0.60%	14.26	0.18%	1223635	195573	306481	62008	4670264	105.5	237.92
1986	3.82	45.46	429378	5114537	48.17	0.61%	14.29	0.18%	1249201	234533	358427	70951	5114537	109.6	240.13
1987	4.05	45.34	466027	5222194	48.10	0.58%	14.22	0.17%	1234942	254067	402556	63471	5222194	111.2	242.29
1988	5.08	52.38	613764	6333941	54.77	0.64%	15.38	0.18%	1308047	226809	551422	62342	6333941	115.7	244.5
1989	6.45	54.72	823573	6991990	57.29	0.65%	15.24	0.17%	1229863	223020	717685	105888	6991990	121.1	246.82
1990	7.61	55.11	1034752	7491894	57.56	0.65%	16.70	0.19%	1370516	198856	899583	135169	7491894	127.4	249.62
1991	7.75	52.67	1128102	7667156	54.90	0.61%	17.06	0.19%	1467465	211557	1015393	112709	7667156	134.6	252.98
1992	7.91	55.34	1198123	8380743	57.84	0.61%	19.15	0.20%	1831699	248467	1068990	129133	8380743	138.1	256.51
1993	8.92	60.21	1412925	9540319	62.80	0.65%	20.51	0.21%	1993519	254149	1256552	156373	9540319	142.6	259.92
1994	9.55	61.75	1570939	10155278	64.32	0.64%	22.37	0.22%	2257521	271948	1421135	149804	10155278	146.2	263.13
1995	10.44	63.61	1786000	10883000	65.95	0.64%	22.43	0.22%	2213000	239000	1625000	161000	10883000	150.3	266.28
1996	12.19	57.46	2167000	10217000	59.97	0.56%	31.18	0.29%	3537000	288000	2008000	159000	10217000	154.4	269.39
1997	12.13	60.39	2249000	11199000	63.15	0.56%	27.53	0.25%	3023000	345000	2082000	167000	11199000	159.1	272.65
1998	12.65	65.59	2410000	12500000	68.15	0.58%	27.44	0.23%	3042000	265000	2187000	223000	12500000	161.6	275.85
1999	12.40	70.49	2430000	13815000	73.05	0.59%	29.03	0.24%	3481000	280000	2208000	222000	13815000	164.3	279.04
2000	12.44	75.71	2532000	15415000	78.36	0.62%	30.47	0.24%	3884000	328000	2321000	211000	15415000	168.8	282.16
2001	15.27	80.88	3257000	17253000	84.37	0.66%	33.05	0.26%	4065000	472000	2985000	272000	17253000	175.1	284.97
2002	16.36	93.91	3563000	20450000	98.53	0.76%	37.49	0.29%	5012000	596000	3152000	411000	20450000	177.1	287.63
2003	20.07	101.33	4523000	22834000	106.17	0.78%	41.79	0.31%	5323000	661000	4094000	429000	22834000	181.7	290.11
2004	18.60	110.54	4311000	25626000	116.72	0.84%	40.80	0.29%	5482000	1097000	3976000	335000	25626000	185.2	292.81
2005	18.79	112.58	4528000	27123000	116.65	0.81%	42.11	0.29%	5884000	712000	4260000	268000	27123000	190.7	295.52
2006	18.25	109.79	4615000	27771000	114.05	0.77%	40.35	0.27%	6087000	582000	4119000	496000	27771000	198.3	298.38
2007	21.02	107.95	5480000	28138000	111.95	0.75%	42.07	0.28%	5886000	644000	5080000	400000	28138000	202.42	301.23
2008	20.95	106.13	5749000	29123000	109.31	0.75%	43.07	0.30%	6268000	672000	5550000	199000	29123000	211.08	304.09
2009	22.14	107.79	6130000	29847000	110.97	0.76%	44.89	0.31%	6465000	713000	5964000	166000	29847000	211.14	306.77
2010	23.81	115.40	6822000	33068000	119.39	0.80%	48.41	0.32%	7078000	1116000	6794000	28000	33068000	216.69	309.33
2011	22.00	117.17	6454000	34370000	119.78	0.79%	48.32	0.32%	7544000	942000	6630000	-176000	34370000	220.22	311.59
2012	21.59	107.77	6567000	32781000	112.48	0.73%	45.08	0.29%	7755000	824000	5957000	610000	32781000	226.67	313.91
2013	20.29	99.52	6316000	30976000	104.83	0.66%	40.88	0.26%	7303000	753000	5419000	897000	30976000	230.28	316.16
2014	19.95	97.57	6364000	31124000	103.92	0.65%	40.21	0.25%	7667000	823000	5159000	1205000	31124000	233.92	319