New Health Care Affordability Index Shows Costs Too High for Quarter of Privately Insured
<p>Health care costs are unaffordable for 25 percent of working-age adults with private insurance coverage, according to the new Commonwealth Fund Health Care Affordability Index.</p><p>Released today in the issue brief <em>How High Is America’s Health Care Cost Burden?</em>, the index measures premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket spending as a share of income. It is based on a new survey of privately insured adults, 90 percent enrolled in employer plans and 10 percent in marketplace plans or individual coverage. </p>
<p>Close to a third of people with moderate incomes and more than half with low incomes have high health care costs relative to their incomes, the findings show. These individuals are the most likely to skip needed health care and not fill prescriptions because of their deductibles and copays. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth Fund will update the Health Care Affordability Index regularly.</p>