Delaware’s Health Care Costs Exceed Benchmarks

By Christian Wade

(The Center Square) — Delaware’s health care costs totaled more than $9.1 billion in 2021, and the rate of increase burst through the state’s benchmark, according to a new report.

The state’s latest yearly Benchmark Trend Report revealed Delaware’s health care costs averaged about $9,088 per resident, which represents an 11.2% year-over-year increase.

That’s also substantially higher than the 3.25% growth benchmark set by the Carney administration.

Health Secretary Molly Magarik said the increase in per capita health care spending is “significant” but “not surprising, suggesting it reflects that Delaware’s health care market is rebounding “from the reduction in health care spending and utilization in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“We know many Delawareans delayed preventive health care services or procedures at the height of the pandemic in 2020,” she said in a statement. “As individuals started to return to schedule those services in 2021, we anticipated that the spending growth would increase as well.”

Why Benchmarks?

In 2018, Gov. John Carney signed an executive order requiring the state to set an annual per-capita-rate-of-growth benchmark for health care spending and other health care quality measures that must be evaluated and adjusted every three years.

The state’s first spending benchmark was set at 3.8% in 2019, but overall spending that year grew by 5.8%, exceeding the limit. In 2020, when hospitals suspended non-emergency surgeries and diverted many patients for non-COVID-19 related illnesses, the state met its ambitious 3.5% benchmark, with overall spending dropping by 1.2% that year.

Overall, the latest health care trends report showed a mixed bag of sorts for Delaware consumers struggling to keep up with ever-rising health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for medical treatment.

The state set a benchmark in 2021 to reduce the percentage of Delaware adults who are obese to 28.7%, but only reduced the percentage to 33.9%, according to the report. That’s a decrease from 2020, but still 5.2% higher than the benchmark.

Another benchmark sought to reduce the mortality rate from opioid-related overdose deaths to 14.7 per 1,000. But the rate increased to 48.1 deaths per 1,000, the report noted.

But, benchmark rates to reduce emergency room utilization and increase the percentage of patients who receive statin therapy exceeded the state’s expectations in 2021, according to the report.

“We know many Delawareans delayed preventive health care services or procedures at the height of the pandemic in 2020,” she said in a statement. “As individuals started to return to schedule those services in 2021, we anticipated that the spending growth would increase as well.”

In 2018, Gov. John Carney signed an executive order requiring the state to set an annual per-capita-rate-of-growth benchmark for health care spending and other health care quality measures that must be evaluated and adjusted every three years.

The state’s first spending benchmark was set at 3.8% in 2019, but overall spending that year grew by 5.8%, exceeding the limit. In 2020, when hospitals suspended non-emergency surgeries and diverted many patients for non-COVID-19 related illnesses, the state met its ambitious 3.5% benchmark, with overall spending dropping by 1.2% that year.

Overall, the latest health care trends report showed a mixed bag of sorts for Delaware consumers struggling to keep up with ever-rising health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for medical treatment.

The state set a benchmark in 2021 to reduce the percentage of Delaware adults who are obese to 28.7%, but only reduced the percentage to 33.9%, according to the report. That’s a decrease from 2020, but still 5.2% higher than the benchmark.

Another benchmark sought to reduce the mortality rate from opioid-related overdose deaths to 14.7 per 1,000. But the rate increased to 48.1 deaths per 1,000, the report noted.

But, benchmark rates to reduce emergency room utilization and increase the percentage of patients who receive statin therapy exceeded the state’s expectations in 2021, according to the report.