From 2012 to 2017, private health insurance beneficiaries’ average after-insurance bill rose from $467 to $781 — a 67% increase.

Rather than making consumers more judicious about their healthcare spending, though, payers’ cost shifting may be having a negative impact on provider groups, hospitals and health systems.

Although hospitals’ revenues from patient collections rose 88% over the same time period, so too did their bad debt and uncompensated care write-offs, TransUnion Healthcare found in a new analysis.

The analysis pointed out that the American Hospital Association reported that uncompensated care write-offs rose $2.6 billion in 2016 — the first such increase in 3 years. The group attributed that rise to patients’ inability to afford (and/or unwillingness to pay) higher co-pays and deductibles.

“It is becoming clear that patient balances after insurance is a major factor in increases in uncompensated care at the macro level,” observed Jonathan Wiik, TransUnion’s principal for healthcare strategy.

“Higher out-of-pocket-costs from cost sharing have made patients responsible for an increasing percentage of the bill. Most patients simply cannot afford that, and hospitals need to make sure they’re actively engaging their patients to ensure they have funding mechanisms for the care needed.”

Learn more here, from RevCycleIntelligence‘s Jacqueline LaPointe.