Annual Reports
HCCI’s Health Care Cost and Utilization Reports

Yearly reviews of spending, price and utilization trends for commercially-insured Americans. Learn more about our methodology, definitions, and other resources.

Oct
12

Spending on Preventive Services Represents a Small Fraction of Total Health Care Spending, but Costs to Individuals Could Be High without ACA Protection

 The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurers to cover certain services without charging patients out-of-pocket. These services include routine preventive care, such as wellness visits, immunizations, contraceptive services, and cancer and other disease screenings. In September 2022, a federal court ruled portions of the law's preventive services provision unconstitutional. If the court de...

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Oct
11

Greater Share of Children’s Emergency Room Visits were for Mental Health Needs in 2020

In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children's Hospital Association, declared a National State of Emergency in Children's Mental Health associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including the loss of caregivers, school closures, social isolation, and gaps in health care (see citations below). Understanding the effect of the COV...

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Oct
06

Trends in HIV PrEP utilization, spending, and price

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV are medications that reduce an individual's chances of contracting HIV. The CDC estimates that 1.2 million people are at risk of HIV infection and may benefit from a PrEP prescription. We analyzed health insurance claims for 55 million Americans with employer-sponsored insurance in order to examine utilization and spending on these drugs between 2016 and 202...

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Oct
04

HCCI Spotlights Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Use of Mammograms Peaks in October

Mammography screenings are recommended every 1-2 years for women aged 40 and older, as well as for younger women who are at high risk for breast cancer. These screenings are an essential tool for early detection and treatment of breast cancer. Using HCCI's data on people with employer-sponsored insurance as well as Medicare and Medicaid data, we examined mammography utilization patterns from 2018 ...

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Sep
29

Kaiser Health News: Few Places Have More Medical Debt Than Dallas-Fort Worth, but Hospitals There Are Thriving

HCCI's Healthy Marketplace Index was cited in a KHN article on medical debt in Dallas-Fort Worth.  From the article: "Dallas-Fort Worth has the highest medical prices in Texas, according to the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit that tracks costs nationwide. And in a state where most markets have relatively low medical prices, in-patient care at Dallas-Fort Worth hospitals was 13% more e...

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