An analysis from The Commonwealth Fund using 2009 to 2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data found Americans seated with the highest medical costs, like high-need adults, are often the ones least able to pay.
Here are 10 things to know about America’s high-cost, high-need population.
1. One in 20 adults, or about 12 million Americans, is defined as high-need.
2. On average, per person spending on healthcare services and prescriptions was $21,000 for high-need adults. This was more than four times higher than all U.S. adults.
3. Annual out-of-pocket costs for high-need adults were $1,669 on average, compared to $702 for the rest of the U.S. population.
4. Median household income for high-need adults ($25,668) was less than half of the U.S. adult population’s median income of $52,685.
5. More than 50 percent of high-need adults were age 65 and older. Of this population, most were age 75 and older. Comparatively, less than a fifth of the U.S. adult population were age 65 and older.
6. About two-thirds of high-need adults were women. Researchers said this may reflect a general trend of women living longer than men and the fact that high-need adults are older.
7. Nearly 75 percent of high-need adults were white, a larger share than in the collective U.S. adult population.
8. Only 4 percent of America’s high-need adults were uninsured, as more than four of five high-need adults had public insurance like Medicare or Medicaid.
9. On average, high-need patients visited a physician 9.6 times per year, which is about three times as often as the overall population.
10. High-need adults were more likely to incur and maintain high costs toward treatment over two consecutive years. One in six high-need adults were in the top 5 percent of spending two years in a row.
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