At least $760 billion of annual U.S. health care spending is considered wasteful.

HEALTH CARE Stats That Make You Go…“Wow”

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20%–25% of U.S. health care spending is wasted annually, according to new research published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That made us go “wow” but also “eh, kinda makes sense,” considering the U.S. spends more than any other country on health care at nearly 18% of GDP. FYI, the study’s lead author is the chief medical officer of health insurer Humana. Back to the numbers: At least $760 billion of annual U.S. health care spending is considered wasteful. Breaking that down... $266 billion is flushed down the toilet on administrative costs, the greatest source of waste. Pricing failure accounts for $231 billion to $241 billion in waste. Other ways we’ve managed to throw money down the drain: Overtreatment and low-value care, fraud and abuse, and failure of care delivery.  Now that we’ve identified the problem, we can fix it...right? Right?  "It is likely that substantial waste in U.S. health care spending remains," the study’s authors inform us, but evidence-based interventions could produce "better care at lower cost for all U.S. residents."