Research!America has been tracking and analyzing the various streams of funding that make up the total U.S. investment in health research for a decade, and trends tell us we are headed in the wrong direction.
In 2006, we estimate that $116 billion was spent on research to improve health. While spending on health overall in 2006 grew by 6.8% to more than $2 trillion, the investment in health-related research grew by a modest 4.2%. For every dollar spent on health overall, 5.5 cents went to research in 2006, the smallest portion since 2001.This decline continues a trend that started in 2005, following a flattening in federal research spending that began in 2004.
The importance of federal research investment in priming the pipeline for other sources of research funding cannot be overestimated. The U.S. government's commitment to basic science has made our nation the world leader in medical and scientific discovery-a position at risk if federal funding does not keep pace with inflation.
2006 Investment in U.S. Health Research-includes trend charts
2005 Investment in U.S. Health Research
2004 Investment in U.S. Health Research
2002 Investment in U.S. Health Research
Please send us feedback on the 2006 U.S. Investment in U.S. Health Research.