While the coronavirus pandemic is highlighting the current shortcomings of the American health system, a new report from Kaiser Health News and the Associated Press has shed light on its gradual decline over the past decade. It found that state spending for public health departments has dropped by 16% per capita since 2010 while spending for local health departments has fallen by 18%. At least 38,000 state and public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession, leaving a skeletal workforce in what was once viewed as one of the world's top public health systems. Worryingly, the situation is expected to get worse with possible county budget cuts looming due to the recession.
The report also contained an interesting overview of current levels of annual public health expenditure with more than three-quarters of Americans living in states that spend less than $100 per person annually. The gulf in health expenditure per resident across different states is telling and it ranged from just $32 in Louisiana to $263 in Delaware. The following infographic provides an overview of the situation in 49 states (there was no data available for California). The report also highlighted the states that experienced the largest decline in health spending per person over the last decade. Between 2010 and 2018, South Carolina's health expenditure per resident plunged 55% while Nevada and Kentucky experienced declines of 33% and 32%, respectively.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
Annual average public health expenditure per person (2016-2018)
