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Low spenders, defined as the bottom 50% of the population when ranked by healthcare expenditures, are responsible for just 2.8% of US healthcare spending.
The majority of research on healthcare expenditures focuses on high-needs, high-cost patients, particularly the group of Americans who are responsible for the top 1% of expenditures. However, a new study in Health Affairs shines a spotlight on the often-overlooked population of low spenders and finds that they tend to be younger, healthier, and better able to access healthcare.
For more on low spenders, including their age demographics and annual out-of-pocket costs, see the infographic below.