Differences in health status explain much of the regional variation in spending for privately insured people, but differences in provider prices -- especially for hospital care -- also play a key role, according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) based on claims data for active and retired nonelderly autoworkers and dependents. Although autoworkers' health benefits essentially are uniform nationally, health spending per enrollee in 2009 varied widely across 19 communities with large concentrations of autoworkers, from a low of $4,500 in Buffalo, N.Y., to a high of $9,000 in Lake County, Ill.

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