This turns out to be the next hoax..
4. Even as deductibles in employer coverage have continued their long-term increase, the system-wide out-of-pocket share has declined, indicating that deductible trends are not representative of overall trends in out-of-pocket spending. Many recent analyses of trends in health care spending, including today’s projections, remark on the recent rise in deductibles in employer coverage. In considering the implications of these trends for families’ finances and overall health care spending, it is important to note that trends in deductibles in employer coverage differ markedly from overall trends in out-of-pocket spending. As illustrated in the figure below, the share of total national health expenditures that households finance via out-of-pocket spending has actually declined in recent years. The actuaries project that this decline will continue over the coming decade, reducing the out-of-pocket share to 9.9 percent by 2025.
Trends in deductibles in employer coverage are a misleading guide to the overall trend in out-of-pocket spending for two reasons. First, even for individuals with employer coverage, cost-sharing obligations also depend on plan features other than deductibles, like copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximums. While growth in deductible spending has generally exceeded the growth rate of total health care spending in employer coverage during the more-than-decade-longshift toward higher deductibles, a recent analysis found that cost-sharing obligations other than deductibles have risen much more slowly, with spending on copayments actually falling in recent years. (Affordable Care Act provisions that require plans to limit enrollees’ annual out-of-pocket spending and cover recommended preventive services without cost sharing have likely contributed to slower growth in these other categories of cost sharing in recent years.) In fact, the overall out-of-pocket share in employer coverage has been close to flat since 2010, despite the continued increase in deductibles.
Second, focusing on employer coverage misses changes in other types of coverage, as well as shifts in the number of people with insurance coverage and the types of coverage they hold. The Affordable Care Act has driven the latter type of shift in recent years by increasing the number of people with health insurance and helping people that already had health insurance secure coverage that offers better financial protection.
![[Image: chart4_NHE_outofpocket.png]](https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Charts/chart4_NHE_outofpocket.png)
4. Even as deductibles in employer coverage have continued their long-term increase, the system-wide out-of-pocket share has declined, indicating that deductible trends are not representative of overall trends in out-of-pocket spending. Many recent analyses of trends in health care spending, including today’s projections, remark on the recent rise in deductibles in employer coverage. In considering the implications of these trends for families’ finances and overall health care spending, it is important to note that trends in deductibles in employer coverage differ markedly from overall trends in out-of-pocket spending. As illustrated in the figure below, the share of total national health expenditures that households finance via out-of-pocket spending has actually declined in recent years. The actuaries project that this decline will continue over the coming decade, reducing the out-of-pocket share to 9.9 percent by 2025.
Trends in deductibles in employer coverage are a misleading guide to the overall trend in out-of-pocket spending for two reasons. First, even for individuals with employer coverage, cost-sharing obligations also depend on plan features other than deductibles, like copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximums. While growth in deductible spending has generally exceeded the growth rate of total health care spending in employer coverage during the more-than-decade-longshift toward higher deductibles, a recent analysis found that cost-sharing obligations other than deductibles have risen much more slowly, with spending on copayments actually falling in recent years. (Affordable Care Act provisions that require plans to limit enrollees’ annual out-of-pocket spending and cover recommended preventive services without cost sharing have likely contributed to slower growth in these other categories of cost sharing in recent years.) In fact, the overall out-of-pocket share in employer coverage has been close to flat since 2010, despite the continued increase in deductibles.
Second, focusing on employer coverage misses changes in other types of coverage, as well as shifts in the number of people with insurance coverage and the types of coverage they hold. The Affordable Care Act has driven the latter type of shift in recent years by increasing the number of people with health insurance and helping people that already had health insurance secure coverage that offers better financial protection.