Map Reveals States Where Americans Spend Most on Health Care
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Residents of five southern states pay the highest share of their household income on health care, according to data collected by WalletHub.
The differences between medical costs across the U.S. largely come down to household income, because as cost of individual health care services vary within each state, the overall costs end up taking a larger percentage out of bank accounts in states where the median income of its residents are lower than others.
Why It Matters
Health care costs can create significant financial and mental strain on populations and can often lead to people having to file for "medical bankruptcy."
The GOP budget proposal, which just passed the House, could lead to over 7 million people having their access to Medicaid impacted—including people in Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Oklahoma—if it becomes law.
What To Know
The state where the highest share of household income, 18.66 percent, goes to health care costs is Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, where the median household pays above 16 percent of their income on essential medical visits and medicine.
Maryland residents pay the least percentage of their income, on average, for health care, as health services take up 9.03 percent of household earnings in the state.
Mississippi has the lowest average income in the country, at $54,915, meaning health care costs can quickly add up to take up a larger percentage of a household budget.
Although Mississippi is the 38th most expensive state to see a doctor in, it is the 12th most expensive state to see a dentist in, and the 16th most expensive state for the heart drug Lipitor, per WalletHub data.
The five states where the highest percentage of income goes toward health care costs, are also among eight poorest states in the country. The five states where the lowest percentage of household income goes to seeing a doctor are among some of the richest states in the country. This includes New Jersey, which boasts the highest average earnings in the U.S.
Higher wages can often result in better health insurance from an employer, less fear about medical debt and less reliance on state and federal health care services like Medicaid and Medicare.
Medicaid activists wait to enter the House Energy and Commerce markup of the Fiscal 2025 budget resolution in Rayburn building on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Medicaid activists wait to enter the House Energy and Commerce markup of the Fiscal 2025 budget resolution in Rayburn building on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Tom Williams/AP Photo
How Medicaid Cuts Could Affect Health Care Costs
The House-passed GOP budget calls for a reduction of $700 billion in Medicaid spending over the next decade and the implementation of work requirements, which are a mandated 80-hour-per-month community engagement for Medicaid recipients.
Proponents of work requirements say they encourage workforce participation, but opponents say that many people on Medicaid already have jobs but they are so low-income that they still qualify for state health care.
Approximately one in five Americans are enrolled in Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid could not only impact those who rely on its services but could also increase health care costs for Americans overall.
"Most likely the prices [of health care] will go up because when people lose their health insurance coverage they still need care and few of them have the money to pay the high cost of medical care so each of us have to dig deeper into our pockets to pay for the health care we receive," Gerard Anderson, Professor of Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University, told Newsweek.
He also noted that "Medical professionals caring for current Medicaid recipients will feel the greatest impact [of the cuts]," as although payments from Medicaid is not high, it is more than nothing at all which is what they will receive from fully uninsured patients."
People losing access to Medicaid could also lead to other issues within the health care complex, including longer wait times.
"If people without Medicaid are not able to receive preventive care they will access care in the emergency department, leading to longer wait times for everyone," Jennifer Wolff, Professor of Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University told Newsweek.
Anderson also discussed proposed work requirements on Public Health on Call.
"This might make sense in theory, but not in practice: If people are able to work, they should be able to get off Medicaid," he said. "But the fact is that many of these people work very low-wage jobs, so they would still qualify for Medicaid.
"Many people on Medicaid live in rural areas where there aren't any jobs. In order to get a job, they would need to move to another community, likely in a more affluent area where they can't afford to rent."
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents Louisiana, one of the most costly states for health care in the country, said that the work requirements for Medicaid included in the GOP budget have a "moral component" to them, as they encourage young men to get jobs.
One-third of the residents in Johnson's district in Eastern Louisiana are currently on Medicaid.
Demonstrators protesting cuts to Medicaid and U.S. Capitol Police officers outside a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup on Capitol Hill on May 13, 2025.
Demonstrators protesting cuts to Medicaid and U.S. Capitol Police officers outside a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup on Capitol Hill on May 13, 2025.
Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images
What People Are Saying
Professor of Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University, Gerard Anderson told Newsweek told Newsweek: "[All Americans] will be impacted [by Medical cuts] because the prices for their health care services, and their health insurance premiums will increase. Someone must pay for the services the people without health insurance receive."
Professor of Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University, Jennifer Wolff told Newsweek: "Families will incur higher out of pocket costs and/or may need to exit the workplace if Medicaid is no longer able to cover home and community-based long-term care and nursing facility care is not supported by the program."
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Face the Nation: "If you are able to work and you refuse to do so, you are defrauding the system. You're cheating the system. And no one in the country believes that that's right."
What Happens Next
The proposed GOP budget is heading to the Senate for a vote.
If passed via the Senate and signed by President Donald Trump, it has been projected to increase health care costs and possibly impact millions of Medicaid recipients.
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