Dive Brief:
- Annual healthcare costs for a family of four covered by an employer-sponsored preferred provider organization (PPO) saw a modest increase of about 4% from 2015 but more than tripled since 2001 to an average of $25,826, according to the latest Milliman Medical Index.
- The index also shows that workers’ premium contributions and out-of-pocket expenses total $11,033 this year - an increase of 5.3% from 2015.
- The MMI and employee burden have grown steadily each year since 2001, Forbes reports.
Dive Insight:
The employer portion of the benefit package is $14,793, bringing costs for a family of four to more than $25,000 on average. But the employee contribution grew more than the employer piece (5.3% versus 4.2%), suggesting that workers are bearing more of the burden of rising costs in the form of bigger premiums, deductibles, and copays.
Employees now pay about $919 a month for healthcare.
“The ongoing increases are driven by a myriad of factors, including the disconnect between healthcare consumption and financing,” the index states. “In addition, healthcare costs are continually driven upward by the fee-for-service payment mechanisms, by inefficiencies in the delivery system, and by our efforts to improve longevity and quality of life through new technologies.”
The index also points to the growing impact of specialty drugs on healthcare costs, which account for 6% of the MMI.