Milliman Index: Healthcare Costs for Family of Four Up $1,303 in 2010

As healthcare financing is about to change dramatically under healthcare reform, healthcare costs continue to rise faster than wages and the Consumer Price Index, according to the annual Milliman Medical Index.

The total 2010 medical cost for a typical American family of four is $18,074, up 7.8 percent from $16,771 in 2009, according to the Index, which reports total annual medical spending for typical families covered by an employer-sponsored PPO.

Costs for inpatient and outpatient facilities accelerated this year, with inpatient facility care this year's largest dollar increase, rising $498.

From 2009-2010, the hospital inpatient annual rate of increase grew from 7.7 percent to 9.8 percent, most of which was driven by average unit costs as opposed to any changes in utilization, according to the report. The hospital outpatient annual rate of increase grew from 10.2 percent to 11.6 percent.

The physician annual rate of increase, meanwhile, declined from 6 percent to 5.2 percent. While physician costs were the largest piece of overall healthcare costs, the 2010 annual rate of increase for physicians was lower than that of other healthcare cost areas.

Read the Milliman Medical Index report.