Most people know that the costs of healthcare in the United States are high. But an infographic from $4 illustrates that it hasn't always been this way.
Take a look at how sharply $4 since 1960 (this is in 2012 dollars).
The first graph shows how much the government spends per person (toping out at $8,402 per person in 2010).
The second shows the total spending - $2.593 billion (or 17.9 % of the GDP) in 2010:
Per-capita spending on healthcare was 57 times higher in 2010 than in 1960, when - it bears noting - Medicare did not even exist.
It's $4 what the longterm cost effects of the Affordable Care Act will be, and these charts reflect pre-ACA realities. But the unsustainable increase in healthcare spending was one of the primary motivations behind reform.