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Hospital Prices Have Risen Much Faster for Private Insurance Than Medicare Since 2019

Hospitals account for nearly one-third of US health spending and 40% of spending growth from 2022-2024. Analysis shows hospital prices paid by private insurers have risen faster than Medicare rates since 2019, a trend with implications for affordability.

Hospital prices paid by private insurers rose 30% from 2019-2026, compared to a 21% increase in Medicare payment rates. The disparate growth widened an existing gap between what Medicare and private plans pay for hospital services.

What Are the Recent Trends in Employer-Based Health Coverage?

Policy Changes Bring Renewed Focus on High-Deductible Health Plans

Health Insurer Financial Performance in 2024

Examining Short-Term Limited-Duration Health Plans

Health Care Affordability

BTD Health Policy in 2026

Health Policy in 2026

President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman forecasts eight things to look for in health policy in 2026. “First and foremost,” he writes, “is the role health care affordability will play in the midterms.” And, he notes: “The average cost of a family policy for employers could approach $30,000 and cost sharing and deductibles will rise again after plateauing for several years.”

View all of Drew’s Beyond the Data Columns

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  • The American Health Care Act: New House GOP Bill Summary and Interactive Maps of Its Effects on Tax Credits

    News Release

    The Kaiser Family Foundation today issued a summary of the Republican House leadership’s March 6 proposed Affordable Care Act (ACA) replacement bill, the American Health Care Act, that can be compared in 17 key policy areas to the ACA and several other proposed replacement plans. In addition, the Foundation updated its interactive maps that compare county-level estimates of premium tax credits consumers would receive under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2020 with what they’d receive…

  • Why Deductibles Would Rise Under the GOP Health Care Plan

    From Drew Altman

    This inaugural Drew Altman column for Axios examines how the GOP House bill would impact deductibles for people who buy insurance in the non-group market. A KFF analysis for the column shows deductibles in a typical non-group plan would be about $1550 higher under the American Health Care Act compared to the Affordable Care Act.

  • Health Insurance and Access to Health Care Tutorial

    Interactive

    This tutorial was produced for kaiserEDU.org, a Kaiser Family Foundation website that ceased production in September 2013. The kaiserEDU.org tutorials are no longer being updated but have been made available on kff.org due to demand by professors who are using the tutorials in class assignments. You may search for other tutorials to view on kff.org. To download this or other tutorials, visit the tutorials archive page.  Slides are available for download using the "Download Slides" link within the…

  • 2021 Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator

    Interactive

    The Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator, updated with 2021 premium data and to reflect subsidies in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, provides estimates of health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With this calculator, you can enter your income, age, and family size to estimate your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on…

  • Analysis Estimates 5.1 Million People Fall into the Affordable Care Act’s “Family Glitch”

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis estimates 5.1 million people nationally fall into the Affordable Care Act’s “family glitch” that occurs when a worker receives an offer of affordable employer coverage for themselves but not for their dependents, making them ineligible for financial assistance for marketplace coverage. The so-called glitch occurs because the ACA prohibits people with an offer of affordable employer coverage from purchasing subsidized coverage through the ACA marketplace. Under current rules, the affordability of…

  • Lowering the Age of Medicare Eligibility Would Likely Reduce Health Spending for Employers, But Raise Costs for the Federal Government by Covering More People in Medicare

    News Release

    Two new KFF analyses find that lowering the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 60 could significantly reduce health spending for employers, who could potentially pass savings to employees in the form of lower premiums or higher wages. Additionally, per person health spending for older adults who move from employer coverage on to Medicare would likely be lower, though such moves would shift costs to taxpayers and increase Medicare program expenditures overall. President Biden…

  • Few Adults Are Aware of Hospital Price Transparency Requirements

    Issue Brief

    This data note for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker shows that few Americans realize that starting this year hospitals are required to post prices of common health services on their websites in a format patients can access and use.

  • How Are Private Insurers Covering At-Home Rapid COVID Tests?

    Policy Watch

    This policy watch provides an early look at how top private insurers are implementing a new requirement to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests. Initially about half offer a direct coverage option and half require an enrollee to pay upfront and then seek reimbursement.