For decades, we’ve talked and talked and talked about the high cost of American health care. But we haven’t done anything about it. As the above chart shows, the problem has gotten so bad that, today, hospital spending reduces the average family’s take-home pay more than do federal taxes.

Overall, as a country, Americans spent $1.2 trillion on hospital care in 2018. That’s over $3,600 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project that, by 2026, hospital spending will rise to $1.8 trillion: over $5,300 per person.