Purchaser: Consumer Program: Out-of-pocket expenditures
Description: Some people purchase health care services with their own funds. The U.S. Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) defines out-of-pocket expenditures as direct spending by consumers for all health care goods and services. These expenditures include prescription drugs, services not covered by health care insurance and the amount of coinsurance and deductibles required by private and public insurers and not paid by a third party.
Texas consumers spent an estimated $14 billion on health care in fiscal 1998.
National Expenditures: 1987–$116 billion
1993–$167 billion
1997–$188 billion
1998–$198 billionTexas Expenditures: 1987–$8 billion
1993–$12 billion
1997–$13 billion
1998–$14 billionType of Funding: Private Sources: HCFA National Health Expenditures data, Lewin/ICF, and Families USA