While average out-pocket costs grew for most people last year, women age 19 to 25 saw no difference in their average out-of-pocket medical costs, primarily as a result of Obamacare, according to HCCI. <\/p>\n
The Affordable Care Act mandates that insurance plans cover the cost of contraceptives without co-payments from enrollees. <\/p>\n
That was the main reason that young adult women's total average out-of-pocket costs didn't budge from $662 last year, even though their use of contraceptives grew by 4 percent, Frost said. <\/p>\n
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\"This is the first time we have seen flat out-of-pocket spending growth by any group of the privately insured,\" Frost said. \"They paid more for some services, at the same time they spent less for contraceptives.\" <\/p>\n
The HCCI report found that spending per broad categories of medical services remained in line with what was found in prior reports. <\/p>\n
Acute in-patient admissions accounted for 20 percent of spending, out-patient care was responsible for 28 percent of expenditures, and 34 percent of the spending went to professional services. The remaining 17 percent went toward prescription medication. <\/p>\n
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Health-care spending up despite lower use<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While average out-pocket costs grew for most people last year, women age 19 to 25 saw no difference in their average out-of-pocket medical costs, primarily as a result of Obamacare, according to HCCI. Continue reading