Researchers at Kaiser Family Foundation sought to identify what workers and their families actually spend out-of-pocket for services covered by their employer-sponsored plan. To do this, the researchers analyzed a sample of health benefit claims from the Truven MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database to calculate the average amounts paid toward deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. The MarketScan claims database contains information about health benefit claims and encounters for several million individuals each year provided by large employers. This analysis shows that from 2006 to 2016, average payments for deductibles and coinsurance among people with large employer coverage rose considerably faster than the total cost for covered benefits; however, the average payments for copayments fell during the same period. Over this time, patient cost-sharing rose notably faster than insurer payments for care as health plans have become a little less generous in this regard.
Read more:
- Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/increases-in-cost-sharing-payments-have-far-outpaced-wage-growth/