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Medicare Beneficiaries' Out-of-Pocket Spending for Health Care

Read the updated report.

This paper examines Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket spending for health care, including spending on premiums, Medicare-covered services, and non-covered services.

Medicare beneficiaries spent a median of $3,138 a year of their own money on health care in 2007, the latest year for which comprehensive data are available.

Ten percent of beneficiaries—more than 4 million people—spent more than $7,861 a year. The oldest and poorest beneficiaries spent about one-quarter of their incomes on health care.