|
Only 10 percent of the U.S. population accounted for nearly two-thirds of all health care costs in 2008, according to the latest report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The average annual cost for each of these individuals totaled almost $24,000, which includes costs covered by insurance and paid out of pocket. Approximately 45 percent of these individuals remained in this 10 percent of the population in 2009, based on their health expenses that year.
The analysis by AHRQ of the 10 percent of patients with the highest health care expenses in both 2008 and 2009 also found that nearly 60 percent of the patients were women, more than 40 percent were age 65 or older, and more than 80 percent were white. Only 3 percent of the patients were ages 18-29, and Asians comprised just 2 percent.
|