--- title: "Trends In U.S. Consumer Out-Of-Pocket Cost For Health Insurance" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/273502998.md" description: "In 2024, the average U.S. household consumer unit spent $4,055 on health insurance premiums, representing about 5.2% of total expenditures. This marks a continuous increase in out-of-pocket costs since 1984, despite the Affordable Care Act's intent to reduce costs. From 2008 to 2024, health insurance costs have risen significantly faster than other medical expenses, exacerbated by inflation since 2021. The Consumer Expenditure Survey provides detailed insights into these trends." datetime: "2026-01-23T10:31:43.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/273502998.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/273502998.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/273502998.md) --- > Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/273502998.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/273502998.md) # Trends In U.S. Consumer Out-Of-Pocket Cost For Health Insurance How much is the typical American household consumer unit paying out of pocket for health insurance premiums? And how has that changed from 1984 through 2024? The annual Consumer Expenditure Survey is the go-to source for this kind of information, detailing how American consumer units spend money. "Consumer units", if you weren't already aware of this peculiar expression, is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' data jocks' affectionate nickname for American households that are close to, but not quite equivalent to, households. For what it's worth, the most basic difference is that a "consumer unit" in 2024 consisted of 2.4 people, but a household consisted of 2.54 people. Because that difference is very small, we'll just call it a "household consumer unit" and run with it. In 2024, the average U.S. household consumer unit spent an average of $78,535 on everything it bought during the year. On average, that household consumer unit spent $4,055, or a little under 5.2% of its total expenditures, out of its own pocket for health insurance in 2024. Our first chart tracks how the overall trend for out-of-pocket expenditures on health insurance has changed from 1984 through 2024: The amount that Americans pay on health insurance has not slowed down since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. The law, which was intended to "bend the cost curve" of health insurance downward, has failed. Our second chart looks at the more recent history from 2008 through 2024, where here, we're tracking the change in how health care costs have changed since 2008. We find the cost of health insurance has been increasing much faster than the costs for what Americans pay out-of-pocket for medical services, drugs, and medical supplies. All these costs have risen since the Biden administration unleashed high inflation in 2021, but health insurance has increased the most out of all these categories. ### **References** U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Expenditure Survey. Multiyear Tables. \[PDF Documents: 1984-1991, 1992-1999, 2000-2005, 2006-2012, 2013-2020. Excel spreadsheet: 2021-2024\]. Reference URL: https://www.bls.gov/cex/home.htm. 19 December 2025. * * * _More By This Author:_ The Price History Of Campbell's Tomato Soup (2026) The Outlook For S&P 500 Dividends In January 2026 S&P 500 Sees Small Decline In Week Without Major Market Moving News ## Related News & Research - [Omeros Turns Corner With Novo Deal, YARTEMLEA Launch](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281666535.md) - [The High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) Bottleneck Can Still Cause Micron's Stock to Soar](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281662827.md) - [Shenzhen Xunce Technology Co., Ltd. Class H (3317): New Buy Recommendation for This Technology Giant](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281611713.md) - [SpaceX Valuation at $2 Trillion: How It Surpasses Meta and Tesla?](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281611627.md) - [07:00 ETBybit Alpha Trading Fiesta Returns with 600,000 USDT in Rewards](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281630273.md)