U.S. health care spending continues to grow, reaching $3.6 trillion and 17.7% of the GDP in 2018.[i]  Unfortunately, a significant share of these costs are increasingly born by Americans in the form of increased deductibles, copayment, and coinsurance—commonly referred to as patient “out-of-pocket” (OOP) costs. Even for the 52% of Americans who have private health insurance through their own or their spouse’s employer, affordability of health care is a pressing issue. Nationally, the average deductible for families in 2018 was $3,392, and almost half (49.1%) of all Americans were enrolled in high-deductible health plans with a deductible of at least $2,700 for family coverage.[ii],[iii]

The State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) at the University of Minnesota continues to monitor trends in coverage, access, and affordability. This brief highlights the affordability of coverage for those with employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI). Using data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the 2019 Current Population Survey (CPS; data year 2018), we estimated family out-of-pocket costs for people with employer coverage across all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). For individuals with ESI, we looked at: (1) the family median out-of-pocket costs by state, and (2) an estimate of the high medical cost burden where family out-of-pocket spending is greater than 10% of household income. For additional estimates, please visit SHADAC’s State Health Compare web tool.