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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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  • Why Data on Health-Care Price Variation Doesn’t Itself Solve the Problem

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses a new Blue Cross Blue Shield Association report on “extreme price variation” in health care services and the limits of consumer information as a solution to the problem. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

  • The Cost of Care with Marketplace Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This brief and accompanying slides examine cost sharing - deductibles, copayments and coinsurance - in 2015 insurance plans sold on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federally-facilitated marketplaces. The analysis looks at out-of-pocket limits, as well as cost sharing for hospital stays, physician visits, emergency room visits, and prescription drugs, for plans across the metal levels (platinum, gold, silver and bronze).

  • New Reports Analyze Cost Sharing in 2015 ACA Marketplace Plans in 37 States

    News Release

    Charts Examine Savings from Subsidies at Stake in U.S. Supreme Court Case Cost-sharing subsidies under the Affordable Care Act can substantially reduce deductibles and other cost sharing for people with low incomes purchasing coverage in the federally-facilitated insurance marketplace serving 37 states, a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds. These government subsidies, which are also available in plans sold on state-run marketplaces, are different from premium tax credits. Both are at stake in…

  • The Health-Care Enrollment Story Is in the States

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman examines the variation among states beneath the national Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace enrollment numbers released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Insurance Markets in a Post-King World

    Perspective

    This perspective addresses how insurance markets might respond if the US Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in the King v. Burwell case. The case challenges the legality of premium and cost-sharing subsidies for low- and middle-income people buying insurance in states where the federal government rather than the state is operating the marketplace under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

  • New Kaiser Policy Insight and Issue Brief Examine Policy Implications and Legal Arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell Case

    News Release

    With the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell on March 4, a new Policy Insight from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Larry Levitt and Gary Claxton explores the policy implications for consumers and insurance markets if the Court were to side with the plaintiffs in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s consumer subsidies. A second issue brief by KFF’s MaryBeth Musumeci, a policy analyst and an attorney, explains the legal…

  • Assessing ACA Marketplace Enrollment

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines factors that may have kept 2016 enrollment in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans from reaching early projections, and it estimates that sign-ups will continue to grow modestly in coming years.

  • New Analysis Suggests ACA Marketplace Enrollment Could Grow Modestly Over Next Few Years, up to 16.3 Million Sign-Ups, 14.7 Million Enrollees after Attrition

    News Release

    A new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that sign-ups in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans could continue to grow modestly over the next few years to 16.3 million (up 28%), based on the experience of the top-performing states. Assessing ACA Marketplace Enrollment examines factors that may have kept enrollment in 2016 from reaching early projections, including smaller declines than expected in employer coverage and a substantial number of people buying their own insurance…