50 years of health spending in one animated chart

When the chart starts, out-of-pocket payments — the dark orange dominating the chart in the early 1960s — represents almost all of the nation's health care spending. Over time, that shrinks substantially across every kind of health care service. Medicare and Medicaid, the nation 's two major public health insurance programs, were signed into law in 1965; you can see them appear in 1966 — Medicaid is shaded in dark green, and Medicare is the medium green to the left of Medicaid.