In 2008, 1 percent of the population accounted for 20.2 percent of total health care expenditures, and in 2009, the top 1 percent accounted for 21.8 percent of the total expenditures with an annual mean expenditure of $90,061. The lower 50 percent of the population ranked by their expenditures accounted for only 3.1 percent and 2.9 percent of the total for 2008 and 2009 respectively. Of those individuals ranked at the top 1 percent of the health care expenditure distribution in 2008, 20 percent maintained this ranking with respect to their 2009 health care expenditures (figure 1). In both 2008 and 2009, the top 5 percent of the population accounted for nearly 50 percent of health care expenditures. Among those individuals ranked in the top 5 percent of the health care expenditure distribution in 2008 (with a mean expenditure of $35,829), 38 percent retained this ranking with respect to their 2009 health care expenditures (figure 1). Similarly, the top 10 percent of the population accounted for 63.6 percent of overall health care expenditures in 2008 (with a mean expenditure of $23,992), and 44.8 percent of this subgroup retained this top decile ranking with respect to their 2009 health care expenditures. The data also indicate that a small percentage of the individuals in the top percentile in 2008 had expenditures for only one year because they died, were institutionalized, or were otherwise ineligible for the survey in the subsequent year.

In both 2008 and 2009, the top 30 percent of the population accounted for nearly 89 percent of health care expenditures. Among those individuals ranked in the top 30 percent of the health care expenditure distribution in 2008