Healthcare
Miami has highest healthcare costs in country for private insurance
By John Dorschner
jdorschner@MiamiHerald.com

The Miami area continues to have the highest healthcare costs in the country, according to the latest edition of the Milliman Medical Index.

The average annual cost of an employer-sponsored, preferred provider organization (PPO) for a family of four costs $24,965, the highest of 14 cities surveyed by Milliman, the national consulting firm.

The number include employer and employee costs, including some out-of-pocket deductibles and co-pays.

For years, the Miami region has ranked at or near the top of costs for Medicare, with seniors here often costing twice as much a year as those in places like Salt Lake City or Minneapolis-St. Paul, according to studies by Dartmouth doctors.

The annual Milliman index reported that for the first time in 2012, the national average family policy exceeded $20,000 -- coming in at $20,728, an increase of $1,335 or 6.9 percent over 2011 -- a lower rate of increase than in the past 12 years.

The Milliman report notes most persons don’t think their healthcare costs are that high, because they think only of out-of pocket costs, which average $3,470, while a few also calculate payroll deductions, which now average $5,114, meaning employees are now paying an average of $8,584 a year.

In recent years, employers have been pushing more of the costs onto workers. In 2012, the employer portion increased 6.7 percent, while payroll deductions went up 8.2 percent, according to Milliman.

The biggest increases in costs come from out-patient services, which grew 8.6 percent, Milliman found. Physician costs grew only five percent nationwide.

Miami’s costs were 120 percent of the national average -- higher than costs in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. Phoenix had the lowest costs in the survey -- $18,365 for a family of four.

Dartmouth has long attributed the high costs in Miami to the area’s large numbers of specialists and an over-supply of hospital beds.

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