Quantitative Analysis Reports

The Financial Burden of Medical Spending Among the Non-Elderly, 2010

Quantitative Analysis Report

A report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as part of its Affordable Care Act (ACA) Implementation - Monitoring and Tracking Series, estimates the financial burden of out-of-pocket medical spending among adults in 2010. The report finds that those who are low-income; those with non-group insurance coverage; the unhealthy; and those with small-group employer-sponsored insurance have an elevated risk of facing high burden levels.

Prepared by the Urban Institute, the authors find that approximately 21 percent of non-elderly adults reside in families with medical spending levels that exceed 10 percent of gross income. Almost 14 percent of the non-elderly sampled face burden levels greater than 15 percent, and roughly 10 percent face levels greater than 20 percent. The report also finds that individuals covered by non-group policies are much more likely to face high burden levels—generally a result of higher premium spending than those with group insurance.

This report is one in a series of briefs examining coverage trends among different groups targeted by ACA coverage expansions.

ACA Implementation - Monitoring and Tracking Series: Quantitative Analysis

  1. 1 A Decade of Coverage Losses: Implications for the Affordable Care Act
  2. 2 Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade
  3. 3 The Financial Burden of Medical Spending Among the Non-Elderly, 2010
  4. 4 Uninsurance is not Just a Minority Issue
  5. 5 Deteriorating Health Insurance Coverage: Coverage Takes the Biggest Hit in the South and Midwest
  6. 6 Declining Health Insurance in Low-Income Working Families and Small Businesses
  7. 7 Trends in U.S. Health Care Spending Leading Up to Health Reform

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