The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released new data pertaining to national health expenditures. An analysis of this data shows that individuals consume different health care services, depending on the type of coverage they have. The chart below displays the share of one’s total health care expenditures for each type of health care service used by individuals enrolled in Medicaid versus those covered by private health insurance, broken down by age. Individuals enrolled in Medicaid tend to have a greater share of their expenditures going toward hospital and residential and personal care. For Medicaid recipients over the age of 65, nursing facilities and retirement communities consume more than twice as much of an individual’s share of total health care expenditures compared with those covered by private insurance. Privately insured individuals have a much larger percentage of their health care dollars being spent on physician and clinical services. While it is likely this result is both somewhat a cause and effect of the circumstances that lead to an individual being enrolled in Medicaid or not, the patterns are interesting nonetheless. The differences in spending across service categories between the two groups shed light on the differences in need among the two populations as well as the differences in the cost drivers.