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A majority of Americans say the health care system is in need of a fix. But how much to change is the main sticking point of the national debate. This series explores nine different situations, from the uninsured to those who have the best insurance that money can buy. This series is produced in collaboration with NPR News. View all profiles
Medicare spends vastly different amounts to care for its enrollees depending on where they live, and growth rates vary dramatically across U.S. states and regions. The data show average age-sex-race adjusted Medicare spending per enrollee by state and by hospital referral regions for 1992 and 2006 and the average annual growth rate for the period 1992 to 2006. The data from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services is a 5 percent sample of Medicare spending for people over 65 years old and not enrolled in HMOs. Launch Map Graphic and text by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Source: The Dartmouth Atlas Project at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.
According to the 2009 Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Benefits, the overall percentage of covered workers in a plan with a deductible of at least $1,000 for single coverage grew from 10 percent in 2006 to 22 percent in 2009. Smaller firms have a significantly higher proportion of workers in high deductible plans than larger firms (40 vs. 13 percent). Enlarge image ยป