An Alaska Growth Industry-Health Care

Over 20,000 people work in Alaska's health care industry,making it one of the state's biggest employers. Employment in the health care industry is greater than in the oil industry, all of the state's eating establishments, the timber industry, or the state's entire finance sector. In fact, it employs about the same number of people as civilians in the federal government. According to the University of Alaska Anchorage, 50 percent more money is spent on health care than on Alaska's public schools, and nearly as much is spent on health care as operating the military in the state. Expenditures for this industry could reach $2.4 billion in 1995.