The growth rate of health care spending continues to remain low, a new report says, but consumers may not be getting much of a relief.
Health spending by privately insured patients increased 4 percent last year, according to the Health Care Cost Institute, continuing a three-year trend of lower health spending growth. But consumers are spending more on out-of-pocket costs, and women and young adults are now carrying a bigger burden.
Health care spending averaged $4,701 per person with employer-sponsored coverage in 2012, up $181 from the year before, the nonprofit group that conducts health research found. Almost half (45 percent) of the additional dollars were due to more spending on outpatient care. Out-of-pocket spending rose more quickly than expenditures per person in 2012, increasing 4.8 percent to $768 for each individual, the report found.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
