Every year, the Milliman insurance industry consulting firm issues a report that estimates the average cost of health insurance and copays across the population of Americans, along with various other insights.
Here are some of the report’s findings:
· Cost increases in Healthcare have been most “moderate”. For the average American, the study found the healthcare costs increase by 4.1% between 2019 and 2020. This is consistent with the 5 previous years, and have actually decreased from 10 years ago, where the rate of healthcare cost increase was nearly double.
· In 2020, the hypothetical healthcare cost for an average American is $6,553 a year, while it is $28,653 for a “typical family” of four. The study recognizes that there are varying of family structures that would influence the cost of healthcare on average.
· With COVID-19 in the picture, the study estimates that the virus will have huge impacts on health care costs for 2020. On one end, massive increases in cost for direct COVID-19 care. Interestingly enough however, there will likely be an exceptionally large decrease in cost for deferred and forgone services, which could actually dwarf the increased spending due to COVID-19. There is tremendous uncertainty how the numbers will play out in the end, so the study did not make explicit adjustments to medical care cost projections.
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