How Much do People with Employer Plans Spend Out-of-Pocket on Cost-Sharing?
Over the past decade, cost-sharing (the out-of-pocket portion of household health spending) has grown faster than both workers’ wages and general inflation for those with employer coverage. In recent years, that growth has reached a rate more similar to inflation. Since 2003, average out-of-pocket costs have increased by 37%. In 2023, a majority (66%) of people with employer coverage spent more than $100 on out-of-pocket costs.
This chart collection examines trends in employee spending on deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance from 2012 to 2023, using a sample of health benefit claims for individuals under 65 from the Merative™ MarketScan® Commercial Database.
The full analysis and other data on health costs are available on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system.
