Variation In Health Spending Growth For The Privately Insured From 2007 To 2014.

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Healthcare Policy
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Employer-sponsored private insurance covers a significant portion of the US population.
• Understanding trends in private health spending is crucial for policy and financial planning.
• Previous research has focused more on Medicare spending trends than private insurance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the growth in health spending for individuals with employer-sponsored private insurance between 2007 and 2014.
• To compare private health spending growth with Medicare spending growth during the same period.
• To investigate the variation in private health spending growth across different geographic regions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Health Care Cost Institute data set, including insurance claims from major private insurers (Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare).
• Analyzed per-enrollee spending for privately insured individuals and per-fee-for-service beneficiary spending for Medicare.
• Examined spending growth rates across Hospital Referral Regions (HRRs) and calculated the correlation between private and Medicare spending growth.

Main Results:

• Private health spending per enrollee grew by 16.9% from 2007-2014.
• Medicare spending per fee-for-service beneficiary decreased by 1.2% during the same period.
• Significant regional variation in private spending growth was observed, with HRRs in the 10th percentile growing at 0.22%/year and the 90th percentile at 3.45%/year.
• The correlation between private and Medicare spending growth across HRRs was low (0.211).

Conclusions:

• Growth in private health spending significantly outpaced that of Medicare spending between 2007-2014.
• Substantial geographic disparities exist in the growth of private health expenditures.
• The low correlation suggests that distinct factors influence spending growth in privately insured populations versus Medicare beneficiaries.