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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s report – The Growing Importance of Healthcare Accounts.
How Big Is the Payments Market for Health Care Related Services?
- Its massive: nearly $3 trillion dollars annually.
- Payments for health care related services is almost 18% of the U.S. GDP each year.
- Over 62% of U.S. employers have moved to high deductible health plans — making health care payments a B2C business.
- Over 20% of credit reports in the U.S. have some form of medical debt.
- Its estimated over 43 million Americans have an account in collection through NCRA.
- Among consumers with medical debt, over 22% have ONLY medical expenses.
- A likely factor: consumers’ misunderstanding what they owe—medical expenses are mailed, often from multiple providers.
About the report
New Mercator Advisory Group research explores the growth of healthcare accounts as U.S. consumers seek to bridge the gap between expenses and what health insurance covers.
Healthcare-related expenses are nearing 20% of GDP in the U.S. and the rise in costs show no signs of slowing. The persistent trend has left employers of all sizes to figure out how to offer meaningful healthcare benefits to attract good employees while keeping insurance costs at reasonable levels. The answer for many employers and consumers has be a reliance on healthcare plans with higher deductibles but lower premiums than traditional plans, coupled with a tax-advantaged account that the consumer uses to pay for healthcare-related expenses not covered by their health insurance plan. The dependency on consumer-driven accounts represents an opportunity for issuers and new market entrants that can amass scale and offer efficient, differentiated services, according to Mercator Advisory Group’s latest research, The Growing Importance of Healthcare Accounts.