Assessment of Out-of-Pocket Spending for COVID-19 Hospitalizations in the US in 2020

Abstract

IMPORTANCEMany insurers waived cost sharing for COVID-19 hospitalizations during 2020. Nonetheless, patients may have been billed if their plans did not implement waivers or if waivers did not capture all hospitalization-related care. Assessment of out-of-pocket spending for COVID-19 hospitalizations in 2020 may show the financial burden that patients may experience if insurers allow waivers to expire, as many chose to do during 2021. OBJECTIVE To estimate out-of-pocket spending for COVID-19 hospitalizations in the US in 2020. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional study used data from the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus for Academics Database, a national claims database representing 7.7 million privately insured patients and 1.0 million Medicare Advantage patients, regarding COVID-19 hospitalizations for privately insured and Medicare Advantage patients from March to September 2020. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Mean total out-of-pocket spending, defined as the sum of out-of-pocket spending for facility services billed by hospitals (eg, accommodation charges) and professional and ancillary services billed by clinicians and ancillary providers (eg, clinician inpatient evaluation and management, ambulance transport).RESULTS Analyses included 4075 hospitalizations; 2091 (51.3%) were for male patients, and the mean (SD) age of patients was 66.8 (14.8) years. Of these hospitalizations, 1377 (33.8%) were for privately insured patients. Out-of-pocket spending for facility services, professional and ancillary services, or both was reported for 981 of 1377 hospitalizations for privately insured patients (71.2%) and 1324 of 2968 hospitalizations for Medicare Advantage patients (49.

Economic burden and catastrophic health expenditure associated with COVID-19 hospitalisations in Kerala, South India

“…The 75 th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) carried out in the year 2017 reports the average medical expenditure incurred during Hospitalisation was more than seven fold in a private hospital than in a government hospital (MOSPI, 2019). The analysis from the present study adds to a group of studies that have established that comorbid conditions are significantly associated with increasing medical costs for hospitalisations for COVID-19 (Carrera-Hueso et al, 2021;Chua et al, 2021;Miethke-Morais et al, 2021). Even though the existing body of evidence from low and middle income countries emphasizes on the role of health insurance in protecting households from catastrophic health costs,the present study did not identify such an association in the regression model (Huffman et al, 2011).…”

“…According to a report on the COVID-19 hospitalization cost from Spain, the mean cost per patient was USD 12,108 (Carrera-Hueso et al, 2021). Analysis based on co-payments data from the United States found the mean total out-of-pocket spending to be USD 3840 for privately insured patients and USD 1536 for patients with medicare services (Chua et al, 2021). The estimates from China puts the medical cost as USD 6827 per treated case while the mean daily hospitalization cost per patient for COVID-19 care in Saudi Arabia was reported to be USD 1384.57 (Li et al, 2020) (Khan et al, 2020).…”

Catastrophic health expenditure due to hospitalisation for COVID-19 treatment in India: findings from a primary survey

“…A study from Peru has reported high OOPE for COVID-19 hospitalisations and ineffectiveness of health insurance [44]. Studies from USA have found significant OOPE for COVID-19 hospitalisations among the insured [45,46]. Examples of price gouging by private hospitals for COVID-19 care have been found in many countries in Africa [47].…”

Adverse effects of vaccinations and potential therapies against COVID-19

“…Przy niektórych typach terapii, takich jak ECMO, koszt jest astronomiczny. Jedynym rozważanym tanim lekiem jest fluwoksamina [141]. Ocenia się, że niektóre rachunki tzw.…”