Summary: When most people think about health care, doctors, hospitals, insurance premiums and prescriptions come to mind. But spending often goes beyond that, to purchases that are outside of conventional therapies and treatments and home care for family members. Taking all of these expenses into account, a recent study by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and the Deloitte Center for Financial Services found that consumers spent 363 billion, or 13 percent, more for health care goods and services in 2009 than is captured in official government accounts. In fact, these out of pocket health care costs consume 16 percent of the average U.S. households discretionary spending, second only to housing costs. In the latest episode of Deloitte Insights, Paul Keckley, PhD, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, part of Deloitte LLP, discusses the study and what it reveals about this substantial and increasing burden in the average household.
