Universal HealthcareBy NextBestFit
Cost · Liability

Defensive medicine (2008 dollars)

Amount
$45.6B
per year
Per resident, per year
$134
÷ 341.1M people
Per household, per year
$345
÷ 132.2M households

How it is built

Part of the liability total

Part of: Spread across national spending (overlapping estimates; do not add)

Problems this cost relates to

Sources: Mello, Chandra, Gawande & Studdert, Health Affairs (2010)