Report: Idahoans spent more on medical care, less on prescriptions

Idahoans with employer-sponsored health insurance spent more on inpatient and outpatient services but less on prescription drugs and clinician services than the national average in 2018, according to a new report.

The Health Care Cost Institute released its 2018 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report this week, which examines year-over-year and five-year cumulative trends in health care spending for individuals with employer-sponsored insurance.

Around 49 percent of the total population in the U.S. receives employer-sponsored health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That includes around 800,000 Idaho residents.

“Historically, there has not been a lot of information about them as a group,” said senior researcher Jean Fuglesten Biniek. “The crux of our work is to try to change that.”

In Idaho, individuals spent $5,958 per person on health care in 2018, landing the Gem State in the upper third of all states for health care spending in spot 17.

Alaskans spent the most on health care in 2018, with an average of $7,974 per person. Arkansas residents spent the least — $4,734 per person on average.

Growth in spending per person varied by state, but average prices increased in every state between 2014 and 2018.

“This is concerning, because most of that growth comes from rising prices,” Biniek said.

Idaho saw an increase of 19 percent in spending during that period, higher than the national average of 18.4 percent.

Average prices for health care services increased by 15 percent between 2014 and 2018. Spending growth varied by type of service.

Idahoans spent an average of $1,194 per year on inpatient services in 2018, slightly higher than the national average of $1,128. This was also an increase from Idaho’s 2017 average of $1,135.

In 2018, Idaho residents spent $2,053 per person on outpatient services, compared to the national average of $1,662.

For prescription drugs, Idahoans spent an average $1,019, slightly less than the national average of $1,118. Idahoans spent an average of $957 per person in 2017.

Clinical services cost Idaho residents an average of $1,692 per person in 2018, up from the 2017 average of $1,572. The national average was $1,985 in 2018.

Biniek said the Health Care Cost Institute’s research found that, nationally, about three-quarters of spending growth was due to higher prices for services, rather than merely inflation.

“People generally are paying more for the same things in 2018 than they were in 2014,” she said.