High medical costs signal underlying problems
Quick View. Jan. 14, 2008.
| Medical communities |
|
15
highest
cost |
15
lowest
cost |
| Uninsured people |
20.4% |
8.8% |
| People with employer-sponsored insurance |
49.0% |
67.3% |
| Average annual out-of-pocket spending for privately insured |
$997 |
$775 |
| Residents at or below 200% of poverty |
42.1% |
20.0% |
| Workers in jobs earning less than $10 an hour |
33.6% |
17.5% |
Spending on health care is related to a community's economic well-being.
Communities with the highest per capita "medical cost burdens" -- spending on insurance premiums, prescription drugs and out-of-pocket expenses -- have more uninsured people, more low-wage jobs and more poor people than do areas with the lowest medical cost burdens. The high-burden communities were more likely to be in rural areas and the South, according to a November 2007 analysis by the Center For Studying Health System Change. Even insured residents in these communities face higher medical costs because their benefits are not as generous as those in low medical cost communities, suggested the report, which is available online.
Source: "Overburdened and Overwhelmed: The Struggles of Communities with High Medical Cost Burdens," Commonwealth Fund, November 2007 (www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=583414).
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Copyright 2008 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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