1、PwC Health Research InstituteMedical cost trend:Behind the numbers 2024Increased pressure in healthcareMedical Cost Trend:Behind the Numbers 2024Heart of the matter:The cost of treating patients is on the rise In 2022,inflation in the United States reached rates not seen since the 1980s.1 With risin

2、g wages and expenses compounded by clinical workforce shortages,providers across the nation are fighting against declining profit margins.In turn,health plans are pressured to raise reimbursement levels in price negotiations with providers.On May 11,2023,the Public Health Emergency(PHE)officially en

3、ded,symbolizing a new stage in the pandemic.The past three years have seen not only a concerted effort to make available safe and effective COVID-19 diagnostics,therapies,and vaccines,but also shifts in how and where Americans gain access to care with an acceleration in technology and alternative si

4、tes of care.While some of these changes are temporary,others will likely persist into the post-pandemic world and become a different future.PwCs Health Research Institute(HRI)surveyed and spoke with actuaries working at US health plans to generate an estimate of medical cost trend for the coming yea

5、r.After considering various inflators and deflators of cost,HRI is projecting a 7.0%year-on-year medical cost trend in 2024 for both Individual and Group markets.This trend is higher than the projected medical cost trends in 2022 and 2023,which were 5.5%and 6.0%,respectively(see Figure 1).The higher

6、 medical cost trend in 2024 reflects health plans modeling for inflationary unit cost impacts from their contracted healthcare providers,as well as persistent double-digit pharmacy trends driven by specialty drugs and the increasing use of the GLP-1 agonists for Type 2 Diabetes or weight loss.PwC up