Health care spending reaches all-time high for working Americans

October 28, 2021

Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance spent, on average, $6,001 per person on health care in 2019, according to a recent report from the Health Care Cost Institute.

The non-profit organization tracks consumer health care spending and has produced an annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report since 2011.

The latest report pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic, but contains interesting (and troubling) findings highlighted in a blog published by Medical Xpress.

For example:

  • Between 2015 and 2019, overall health care spending by the average American consumer increased by 21.8% or $1,074.
  • Hospital prices increased by 31% between 2015, even as fewer Americans were hospitalized.
  • Spending on prescription drugs increased by 28.4% over the same five-year period.

Have your health care costs gone up? Tell us how that has affected your household budget and spending. Use this link to share your story (and selfie!) with Voices for Affordable Health.