Patients ' Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Costs Rising; Expect More Consumer Backlash

The high cost of healthcare in the U.S. has not provoked more of a reaction from consumers thus far because the majority of them have health insurance, governmental such as Medicare or private through employers. This situation is changing however due to the growth of high-deductible health plans (see:Enrollment in High-Deductible Health Plans Continues to Grow). Here is a quote from this latter article: "Among adults aged 18-64 with employer-based health coverage from 2007 through 2017, enrollment in HDHPs [high-deductible health plan] coupled with a HSA [health savings account] grew from 4.2% to 18.9%. Without a HSA, the percentage of adults grew from 10.6% to 24.5%."A recent article emphasized the recent and very significant increases in out-of-pocket healthcare costs in 2018 which surely will be of concern to consumers (see: Report:Patients' out-of-pocket costs increased up to 14% in 2018). Below is an excerpt from it:Patients' out-of-pocket costs for inpatient services increased by 14% on average between 2017 and 2018, according to a new report fromTransUnion Healthcare....Last year, patients who received inpatient care saw the biggest hikes in their out-of-pocket costs. Patients' deductibles and co-pays averaged $4,659 for an inpatient visit in 2018, compared with $4,086 in 2017. Outpatient care saw a noteworthy uptick of its own. Patients' out-of-pocket costs averaged $1,109 for an outpatient visit in 2018, up 12% compared with $990 in 20...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Business Hospital Financial Public Health Source Type: blogs