2018 health care cost and utilization report
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Contributor(s):
- Health Care Cost Institute, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Washington, D.C.] : Health Care Cost Institute, February 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Health Benefit Plans, Employee -- economics Health Care Costs -- trends Health Expenditures -- trends Facilities and Services Utilization -- trends United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The 2018 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report presents data on health care spending, utilization, and average prices from 2014 through 2018 for individuals under the age of 65 who receive health insurance coverage through an employer. The report relies on de-identified commercial health insurance claims contributed by Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare for the years 2014 through 2018.The key findings are: (1) In 2018, per-person spending increased to $5,892. This total includes amounts paid for medical and pharmacy claims but does not subtract manufacturer rebates for prescription drugs. The average out-of-pocket spending increased to $907 per person. (2) Health care spending grew 4.4% in 2018, slightly above growth in 2017 of 4.2%, and the third consecutive year of growth above 4.0%. (3) After adjusting for inflation, prices accounted for three-quarters of spending growth between 2014 and 2018, contributing $453 to spending per person over the five-year period. (4) Average prices grew 2.6% in 2018. While that is the lowest rate of growth over the period, consistent year-over-year increases mean that prices were 15.0% higher in 2018 than 2014. (5) Utilization grew 1.8% from 2017 to 2018, the fastest pace observed during the five-year period. And because of the higher price levels, the effect of the increase in utilization in 2018 on total spending was higher than it would have been in 2014. This report examines trends within four categories of service: inpatient admissions; outpatient visits and procedures; professional services; and prescription drugs. All data were weighted to reflect the age, gender, and geographic mix of the employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) population.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (25 pages, 1 unnumbered page))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101769576 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101769576