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 2010 
, health research spending in the United States increased slightly from $138.9 billion to $140.5 billion, or about 1%, lagging behind the estimated 2.8% increase in the cost of conducting such research. The U.S. spent $2.6 trillion on health care overall, while health research accounted for only 5.5% of total health care spending.
Aside from federal and industry investment, other institutions spent $18.1 billion on health research in 2010—a slight increase of 1.7% from the previous year.
Overall, U.S. investment in health research is essentially stagnant when compared to measures of inflation. In contrast, countries around the world are continuing to rapidly scale up investments in R&D. Renewed, robust U.S. investment in research is needed to foster the new treatments and cures that save lives and improve health while driving economic growth.
2010 Investment in U.S. Health Research-includes trend charts
2009 Investment in U.S. Health Research-includes trend charts
2008 Investment in U.S. Health Research-includes trend charts
2007 Investment in U.S. Health Research-includes trend charts
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 2010 U.S. Investment in U.S. Health Research.