Costs Increase 8.2% for Privately Insured People

Americans with private health insurance got no reprieve from cost increases last year as medical expenses for each person rose 8.2%, about the same rate of increase as 2003, according to a new study.

The annual increase in health spending peaked at 11.3% in 2001 and has leveled off at a high rate, the Center for Studying Health System Change said. The nonpartisan Washington-based center is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J.

Health spending last year grew 2.6 percentage points faster than the overall U.S. economy, the researchers said. For the fourth year in a row, employers in 2005 increased workers’ share of the cost of health insurance through higher deductibles and co-payments, the center said.