Health Care Spending, Prices, and Utilization for Employer-Sponsored Insurance in New York

This report from NYHealth and the Health Care Cost Institute examines health care spending, utilization, and prices for New Yorkers covered by employer-sponsored health insurance from 2013 to 2017. It includes analyses by type of service: inpatient, outpatient, professional services (e.g., doctor’s visits), and prescription drugs.

The analysis finds that health care spending in New York State is both higher and rising more sharply than the national average. Annual health care spending for New Yorkers with employer-sponsored health insurance coverage increased to an all-time high of $6,335 in 2017. Per-person spending in New York grew 6.4% that year, compared with 4.2% nationally.

Health care price increases, rather than increases in health care utilization, accounted for the overwhelming majority of spending growth.

Spending was higher in New York than the national average in all categories except outpatient services, and spending across all four service types grew faster in New York relative to the national average.

The findings reinforce the need for more transparency in health care: accurate, easy-to-understand, meaningful information about what consumers can expect to pay for their care.

Read the report.