The 2014 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report tracks changes in health care prices, utilization, and spending for people younger than 65 covered by employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI). The 2014 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report shows that spending per privately insured person grew 3.4% in 2014, with more dollars going to brand-name drugs than in prior years.
Key Findings
- Health care spending averaged $4,967 per individual in 2014, up $163 from the year before.
- Spending on brand prescriptions jumped by $45 per capita in 2014, despite a nearly 16 percent decrease in use. Hepatitis C antiviral drugs (Harvoni, Olysio, and Sovaldi) accounted for $29.40 of the $45 increase.
- Use of health care services continued to fall in 2014, while prices for all categories of services rose.
- Consumers spent an average of $810 per person out of pocket—a 2.2 percent increase over 2013.
- Every year between 2010 and 2014, out-of-pocket spending by women was higher than that by men.