People aren’t necessarily aware of how much money they and their employers spend on health care overall, but when you add it up the total can be a bit of a shock.
At Axios, Drew Altman of the Kaiser Family Foundation looked at a typical family of four with a household income of $50,000 and came up with an eye-popping total health care expenditure: $23,050 a year. Here’s how he came up with the number:
- $3,950 in out-of-pocket spending on health care
- $3,900 in health insurance premiums for their employer-sponsored plan
- $1,400 in taxes for government-run health programs
- $13,050 spent by their employer on premiums
- $750 spent by their employer on Medicare taxes
Altman says that these sorts of numbers could play an important role when it comes to evaluating the true cost of Medicare for All proposals, which would likely rely on taxes rather than premiums and out-of-pocket spending.
“We can only get a clear picture of how family finances would be affected by Medicare for All, or any other significant overhaul of the health care system,” Altman said, “by looking at the totality of what they pay now.”
