Private social welfare expenditures, 1972-91.

This study reports on 20 years of private social welfare spending, from 1972 through 199 1. The private sector is playing an increasingly important role in financing the Nation's aggregate social welfare programs; this section assumes a large share of health and medical care expenditures, as well as income-maintenance benefits, the latter in areas of employment-related pensions, group life insurance, and group sickness payments. Also, financing education and social services is an important aspect of the private sector's role in supporting social welfare programs. The purpose of this series is to provide estimates of private expenditures for social welfare programs in the United States; it complements the public social welfare expenditures series (see pages 96-104 in this issue). Information on public social welfare expenditures has been available since 1954, and the estimates are published annually in the Social Security Bulletin. ' Data on private social welfare expenditures were published by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 1955, and continued through calendar year 1978. The series was temporarily discontinued because of problems related to data collection and estimation. In 1987, publication was resumed after the methodology for estimating the expenditures for several programs was revised. Data on private social welfare expenditures are more difficult to collect than is information on public expenditures.* Both data series are necessary for a comprehensive understanding of spending trends in social welfare. In calendar year 199 1, private social welfare expenditures were $756.4 billion. Viewed as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), private expenditures were 13.3 percent for calendar year 199 1 Private expenditures are grouped into four major program categories: Health and 12.7 percent for 1990, while public and medical care, welfare and other services, education, and income maintenance. Overall growth of private social expenditures for fiscal year 199 1 were welfare programs amounted to a 156-20.5 percent of GDP (table 1). percent increase (in constant dollars) during the 20-year period being studied. In 199 1, the health and medical care expenditures category claimed the largest dollar share-$421.8 billion (55.8 percent)+f the total. Private funds paid 57.1 percent of all personal health care expenditures, mostly out-of-pocket expenditures of individuals and private health insurance. A small amount of these expenditures (3.6 percent) was funded by nonpatient sources, such as philanthropy and hospital revenues from cafeteria sales and educational programs. Overall growth of private health expenditures during 1972-9 1, in constant dollars, was 13 8 percent. …