Patients Account for Disproportionate Share of Health Care Spending

According to a new study by UHC:

•  The sickest 10% of Americans spent an average of $26,851 in health care costs per person.
• The healthiest 50% spent less than $250 per person.
• 42% of all health care spending among the commercially insured population arose from unpredictable and largely unavoidable single events such as appendectomies or injuries.
• Another 31% of total spending was incurred by the small subset of the population that suffers from advanced chronic and complex illnesses such as congestive heart failure or cancer.

Source: United Healthcare (UHC)