At present, we spend nearly 15% of GDP, or $7,000 per man, woman and child in the United States on healthcare. The next highest nations, Germany and France, spend only about 10% of their GDP on healthcare. The additional 50% we spend does not reward us in longer lives or a better quality of life.
Those in the healthcare community would argue that Americans receive the best healthcare in the world, and we therefore pay more. I would argue that the best measure of healthcare is longevity, and Americans do not live longer than those in other developed countries. While we may lead the world in high-tech solutions to healthcare problems, the results are no better than elsewhere -- just more expensive.
We as consumers bear the primary responsibility to control costs
Our current experience in the healthcare system is that we make few choices, and do little to scrutinize the charges billed to us by healthcare providers. Since most of us have our healthcare premiums paid by our employers, we seldom have the opportunity to choose our specific healthcare plan (or choose from a limited selection provided by our employer). This is not how we make other major purchasing decisions, such as a house or an automobile.
We also see little detail of our healthcare bills. Since most of us pay only a portion of our bills, through a small percentage or a nominal co-payment amount, we as consumers do not look for value or efficiency when we shop.
Those in the healthcare community may argue that the quality of care should not have a price, nor does price enter into the equation when physicians are considering healthcare delivery options. While this may be true on an individual basis, healthcare professionals do live in an environment where resources are limited. We do not exercise our ability to change demand, or change...
Health Care Costs and Health Care Quality The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, dedicated to improving the health and health care of Americans, focuses on research, publication and funding. Two of its articles, "What is the National Quality Strategy?" And "What's the price of health care?" focus on several important issues of national health care. By simplifying the explanation of our National Quality Strategy and examining several states' attempts at health care
As the increased costs that they are paying, will more than likely mean that they cannot afford to receive routine physicals and checkups. When you begin to reduce the number of visits, the odds increase that various conditions and ailments may be discovered once it is too late. This is when the condition has become so bad, that it will require an individual have to visit a specialist. Once
Health Care Cost for Average Families Is Increasing Health care costs are increasing at their lowest rate in 20 years, according to recent studies (AON, 2015), but at 4.1%, these costs are still increasing faster than the rate of inflation (Patton, 2015). For the average American family, the reality that health care cost increases have been sustained over two decades, at rates faster than either wage increases or the inflation rate,
Health Care Costs in the United States on the Access to Care Total U.S. Spending on Health Care vs. Overall Health in America The United States spends an extraordinary amount of money on health care. In 2009, health spending was $2.47 trillion dollars and accounted for 17.3% of the U.S. economy in 2009 (Pickert, 2010). This was a significant increase over the 2008 figure of $2.34 trillion and "was the largest
healthcare costs which are causing hospital a great deal of financial pain while also hurting patients in terms of higher bills. We need to understand that if an industry knows that its maintenance costs a lot, it will obviously pass on some of those expenses to its customers. The same is being done in healthcare industry and this is primarily because the cost of running and maintaining operations in
Healthcare Costs A number of factors have affected the costs of healthcare in the United States over the past 3 decades, and there has been a corresponding impact on the nursing field as a result. To determine the facts about these issues, this paper reviews the literature to identify those factors that have had an effect on increasing healthcare costs over the past 30 years following by an analysis concerning
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