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Overall health care costs increase, reverse downward trend from 2009
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Consumer out-of-pocket costs for health care reached $735 per person in 2011 for people who were privately insured and younger than 65 years, reversing a downward trend in health care spending seen since 2009, according to a recent report by the Health Care Cost Institute.
“Prices continue to be the main culprit for rising health care costs,” David Newman, a Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) executive, stated in a press release. “If we are going to get health care spending under control, we have to better understand why those prices are rising and the implications those increases have for the U.S. health care budget.”
The average cost per person spent on health care services was $4,547, increasing from 3.8% in 2010 to 4.6% in 2011. The increase in costs applied to all major categories of health care services: prescription drugs increased by 1.2%, professional procedures by 3.3%, outpatient services by 4.6% and outpatient visits increased by 5%. The highest increase reported was in inpatient admissions, which increased by 5.5%, according to a press release.
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“While it is hard to know whether this means spending levels are going to continue rising, it clearly is a signal that we have to pay attention to,” Martin Gaynor, PhD, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University and HCCI governing board chairman, stated in a press release. “We need to continue studying these data to see whether this acceleration in spending growth is the beginning of an upward trend that will return us to pre-recession levels.”
In the report, the institute also noted that children’s health care increased faster than any other age group. In 2011, spending increased to 7.7%, 2.1% higher than in 2010 and twice the rate of the 19 years to 44 years and 55 years to 64 years age groups, according to the release.
Outpatient services also increased from recent years. Although emergency room visits increased by 3.7%, there were less hospital stays and filled prescriptions, according to the release. Insurance companies paid for health care costs in about the same percentage in 2011 as in previous years, with the companies paying for 83.8% of total costs, with consumers paying 16.2% of costs.
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