PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked No. 26 in the nation for health care spending per person in 2017, according to the Health Care Cost Institute’s 2017 Health Care Cost and Utilization Report released Tuesday.
The report used data of individuals younger than 65 who are covered by employer-sponsored private health insurance.
There was $5,508 spend per person on health care costs in Rhode Island for the year, the second lowest in New England, only higher than Massachusetts, where spending was $5,426 per person.
New England per person health care cost rankings in 2017:
- Massachusetts: $5,426 – No. 34 in the nation for highest spend, lowest in New England
- Rhode Island: $5,508, – No. 26 in the nation, second lowest in New England
- Maine: $5,993 – No. 15 in the nation, third lowest in New England
- Vermont: $6,103 – No. 12 in the nation, third highest in New England
- Connecticut: $6,232 – No. 10 in the nation, second highest in New England
- New Hampshire: $6,720 – No. 4 in the nation, highest in New England
Alaska ranked No. 1 for highest cost per person at $7,469, followed by West Virginia at $6,813. The lowest health care cost per person was in Hawaii at $3,626, followed by Utah at $4,499 per person.
The Health Care Cost Institute analyzed data from roughly 4 billion claims of more than 40 million individuals. Claims data came from four of the largest health insurance providers in the U.S. – Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., Kaiser Permanente and United HealthCare Services Inc. – representing about 26 percent of the employer-sponsored insured population.
