Per-person healthcare spending grows nearly 19% in 5 years

Editor's Note

Average prices for healthcare services trended upward from 2018 to 2022 despite fluctuations in utilization of service, according to the annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report (HCCUR) from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). In the same timeframe, per-person spending increased nearly 19%.

"Prices, in particular, pose a challenge to affordable and accessible health care," said Katie Martin, President and CEO of HCCI, in a press release. "This report shows how spending has changed since 2018, and, despite some large impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic along the way, the net effect is that use, prices, and spending were all higher in 2022."

According to the press release, key findings from the report include:

• Average annual health care spending for people with employer-sponsored insurance spending increased from $5,656 in 2018 to $6,710 in 2022.
• Average prices increased by 14% and utilization increased by about 4%
• Per-person out-of-pocket spending increased approximately 8%, from about $800 in 2018 to more than $860 in 2022.
• Per-person spending in 2022 was higher than in 2018 across all major service categories: inpatient, outpatient, physician, and prescription drugs.
• Nearly 60% of per-person medical spending went to hospitals, not including payments to doctors providing care in the hospital. Hospital facility prices increased 15% from 2018 to 2022.
• Inpatient hospital admissions decreased by 11% from 2018 to 2022, including a 36% decrease in respiratory admissions from 2021 to 2022. The five-year decrease was driven by a dramatic reduction in musculoskeletal inpatient hospital stays.