Insurer and out‐of‐pocket costs of osteoarthritis in the US: Evidence from national survey data

Objective Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major debilitating disease affecting ∼27 million persons in the US. Yet, the financial costs to patients and insurers remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to quantify by multivariate analyses the relationships between OA and annual health care expenditures borne by patients and insurers. Methods Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for the years 1996–2005 were used. MEPS is a...