Premium Essay

Rising Cost of Healthcare

In: Social Issues

Submitted By aprilscoles
Words 1823
Pages 8
Rising Cost of Health Care
April Scoles
Instructor LeJarnaro Barnes
March 9, 2014

The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world. It dates all the way back to World War II. The United States and Canada do not even compare to each other, in health care, like they once did. The problem lies within the major stakeholders of the health care system, and what they are willing to change to make it less expensive for patients. This paper will discuss the history, compare and contrast United States health care system to Canada, how the stake holders’ role affect these rising costs and it will discuss recommendations suggested by the authors of “Redefining Health Care.” First, we should discuss the major problem of our health care system. This happens to be the price. According to an article written in 2010, 17% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was spent on health care. It is supposed to increase by 18% by the year 2018 (Crissy, Larimer, Furnas, Spencer, 2010). What is Gross Domestic Product, you ask? Well, it is defined as “the total market values of goods and services produced by workers and capital within a nation’s border during a given period of time” (English Dictionary online). This more or less means that the cost of health care is rising, and the coverage is declining. The out-of-pocket expenses are too much for patients to pay. This in turn makes patients choose to drop their coverage, because it is too expensive, in the first place. If the patients do see their physician, it is usually when it is an emergency situation, which results in high medical bills. Then, they feel they have no other choice but to claim bankruptcy on the rising medical bills. It then turns into a domino effect for the hospital, and providers. If the patient files bankruptcy the hospital and providers are not reimbursed for the care they provided. This

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Rising Healthcare Costs

...Healthcare cost have been a very popular topic to elaborate on within society lately. Some individuals may complain because the healthcare cost are outrageous at times and not affordable. Healthcare cost rise due to the demand for hospitals goods and services rising, living unhealthy lifestyles, there is an aging population living longer, and new technology has enhanced medical goods and services. Are the increases year by year in health care cost justified? Physicians may play a role in the rising healthcare cost as well. A physician is the only one that can diagnose the problem and say how much medical attention is needed. At times fee for service physicians may over diagnose a patient due to them being able to receive a payment for each...

Words: 1060 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Rising of Healthcare Cost

...The Rising of Healthcare Costs Over the past 30 years, the American healthcare system has been afflicted by the continuous rise of healthcare cost. One of the reasons for the increase in healthcare cost is that in today’s society people are living longer lives than they did in the past and the prevalence rates of contracting chronic diseases and developing life threatening injuries are causing the United States healthcare system to suffer a financial crisis. Another reason for the rise in healthcare cost includes but is not limited to expensive hospital visits, complex procedures, and cost of prescriptions. Consumers find several ways to reduce healthcare cost for the insured and uninsured individuals. Some patients questioned where most of the money goes when they pay premiums for health treatments. There are some occurring solutions to the ever-rising cost of healthcare. Decisions you make can determine how much you pay for healthcare. Review your health insurance plan, you can do this by getting involved in your open enrollment, there you may find better or more affordable options available that may fit your needs. If there is no need or emergency in going to see your doctor other than for an annual checkup, getting a different health plan will be beneficial. If your employer subsidizes your care versus that of your dependents, it might make sense to have the dependents get their coverage on the open market, if they only subsidize the employee’s coverage. Other opportunities...

Words: 766 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Rising Healthcare Cost

...University of Phoenix Material Effects of Mass Media Worksheet Write brief 250-to 300-word answers to each of the following: Questions | Answers | What were the major developments in the evolution of mass media during the 20th century? | The evolution of mass media during the 20th century has had major developments such as the telephone, television, radio, newspaper, and Morse code. Morse code was the fastest way for people to communicate by telegram before the telephone. Once the telephone came about it made communication between people much more convenient vs. waiting on a telegram. This then led to the invention of cell phone that made communication even better because now people were able to talk to one another while on the go. Radio was the way people listen to the news, music, storytelling and talk shows. This at the time was the main source of entertainment before the creation of the television. Television changed the way people received information as a whole because before the way to reach the people was through newspapers. Television went from black and white to colored and affordable for everyone to have in their homes, which became a large source for people to see and listen to the news. Next was the making of the computer that allowed individuals to communicate across the world, share pictures with friend and family through social sites, and search the web for any and almost anything one may want to look up. But, before it reached business and homes it was...

Words: 432 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Economist: The Rising Cost Of Healthcare

...Another main issue in the economics field is the rising cost of healthcare. A large amount of government spending is on health care services such as Medicaid and Medicare. A major component of the large amount of government spending is to try to make healthcare affordable to individuals. However, with a rise in the price of the services, medical technologies, and the structure of the medical system makes this task difficult. Rising costs of healthcare can also hurt the economy by decreasing the funding available to local or state governments to support other programs. Also this issue hurts businesses by making it more expensive to hire labor. Economists utilize a method to conduct their research similar to other sciences. They state a main...

Words: 299 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Funding the Rising Cost of Us Healthcare

...Funding the Rising Cost of U.S. Health Care. BY Vilando. HSA500 November 15, 2015 Funding the Rising Cost of U.S. Health Care. The United States continues to spend significantly more on health care than any country in the world, however, even though with this statistics the U.S has a lot of uninsured and does not have the healthiest citizens. In this paper, opinions will be given on the rising cost of overall’s health care’s impact in the U.S economy, followed by a comparising and contrasting factors impacted by the new health care act, pros and cons of using the private insurance rather than using the new health care reforms and the cost associated with its implementation and access to different groups will also be discussed. Rising Cost of Health Care The cost of the U.S health care system is higher than any country in the world. Its efficiency is also under serious scrutiny. If it was not an emergency, most physicians would require insurance verification. Therefore patients will be delayed of treatment. Moreover, the health care system in the U.S should be redesigned in terms of prevention rather than treatment with people who are already sick. Insurance should not go higher for people that have pre-existing conditions or with more health risk. Also the emergence and new discoveries in the field of...

Words: 4666 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Healthcare Costs

...Costs Of Healthcare Christine Amargo HCA305 The U.S. Health Care System Sherry Grover June 9, 2014 Everyone wants to have access to health care and in order to access it they need insurance, but unfortunately not everyone can afford health insurance. The United States spends more money on health care than any other country, but raise the cost of health insurance to the citizens. Health care should be affordable if the government is willing to spend as much money as they are on it. Health insurance should be able to affordable to all classes lower, middle, and higher. The citizens of the United States has the right to know why their insurances cost are going up and if they are going to get more bang for their buck. The reason why healthcare cost is rising each year is because no one is managing the spending. Money is being spent between all accounts of healthcare and shared amongst each other. There needs to be a line where companies stop spending and try to manage the money they have if they don’t the cost of healthcare will just keep rising. The primary issues of healthcare cost are access to healthcare, and affordability of healthcare. The United States health care spending has been growing rapidly for many years, but many citizens are without appropriate health care. This is affecting the two governments major health insurance Medicaid and Medicare and the private insurance companies. As the health care spending rises, the citizens will be faced with difficult choices...

Words: 1975 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Hsm 544 Final Exam

...visit following link: http://www.activitymode.com/product/hsm-544-final-exam/ Contact us at: SUPPORT@ACTIVITYMODE.COM HSM 544 Final Exam Study Guide The final examination for this course is comprehensive, and it emphasizes key concepts from all weeks of the course. 1. Identify the major tasks of economics and discuss why they are important. What are their roles in organization management? 2. Identify and discuss the factors that influence the demand, in turn healthcare economics. What factor do you believe has the greatest impact on healthcare economics and why? 3. Discuss the role of all parties (patient, providers, and payers) to contain costs. Analyse the impact of cost-containment efforts on the rising cost of healthcare. 4. What are the primary steps in a production function analysis? How would you apply these steps in a healthcare organization? 5. Discuss the connection between redistribution and social insurance 6. How does the role of non-profit healthcare organizations differ from profit healthcare organizations? 7. Discuss the concept of managed care. Why was it created? What were its goals? Have these goals changed? Has it worked? How it can be improved? Pick one of the previous questions for your initial post; all of them will be discussed throughout the week. Wishing you all success on your final exam! Activity mode aims to provide quality study notes and tutorials to the students of HSM 544 Final Exam in order to ace their studies. HSM 544 FINAL...

Words: 1241 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Middle Class America Feeling the Economic Squeeze

...slightly in the last four years. In a time when the commodity prices are rising, and the cost of living is increasing, the one constant that stays the same is that the middle class income is not rising as fast as inflation. Middle Class America is diminishing with the rising costs of healthcare, stagnant wages vs. inflation, and the rise of unemployment. The rising costs of healthcare have escalated over the last 10 years significantly. Davidson (2014) reported that the fourth quarter last year was the fastest pace in health care spending in the last 10 years. The total spending on healthcare is expected to reach over 4 trillion dollars by the year 2021, according to Aetna Insurance. The reason this effects the middle class is that employers are requiring the employee to share in a larger portion of the insurance premiums, this is a change that is becoming popular with most companies. Collins (2008) reported that the proportion of adults spending 10% or more on their healthcare have more than doubled between 2001 and 2007, from 18 percent to 36 percent. One of the core beliefs is that the middle class income is not keeping up with inflation and the added cost of healthcare causes the middle class worker to make tough decisions around personal well-being and basic necessities. Medical spending the last three years has reduced due to the recession. Americans had to make tough decisions and cutting out healthcare and seeking treatment was one of those choices. The economy is starting...

Words: 1401 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Agriculture

...Unavailable Healthcare Student’s Name: University Affiliation Unavailable Healthcare Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2002). Health care costs: Fact sheet. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved on March 12, 2013, from http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/costs/health-care/index.html The United States department of health and human services has an agency that is dedicated to conducting studies on the cost of healthcare to inform lawmakers and citizens alike. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has done extensive studies on particular ways to target the increasing cost of medical care. This is in recognition of the cost as a barrier to the availability of healthcare to the poor.   Ayanian, J.Z. & Van der Wees, P.J. (2012). Tackling rising health care costs in Massachusetts. The New England Journal of Medicine, 367, 790-793. Retrieved March 21, 2013, from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1208710. Massachusetts is an example of a state on how to enact healthcare reform. Ayanian and Van der Wees (2012) investigate how Massachusetts has handled the rising cost of healthcare. In 2010, the state attorney general found that there was a great variation in the price of medical care throughout the state (Ayanian & Van der Wees, 2012). The state passed a law whose aim was to control medical care costs; Brill, S. (2013, February 20). Bitter pill: Why medical bills are killing us. Time. Retrieved Sept 5...

Words: 1627 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Hospital and Long-Term Care

...Hospital and Long-Term Care Facilities Kevin L. Coleman Strayer University Professor: Dr. Kaluyu HSA: 500 February 12, 2012 By 2030 it is estimate that the United State population will be over the age of 65. The baby boomer generation although active will be placed a financial burden on the country due the need of healthcare. With the uncertainty of MEDICARE the prospect maybe bleak, and long term care will be essential for the aging impact that about to occur. In order to get a grasp on the impact and the need for long term healthcare we have comprehend the important of non-profit and profit hospital, what are the growing trends; what are the difference between hospital and nursing home, and what is the current state of United State long term care. Describe the differences between non-profit and profit hospital Most people do not give much thought rather a hospital is non-profit are for profit, but there is a strict difference between the two. Non-profits hospital typically accepts anyone with a medical need who comes into their doors, regardless of their ability to pay for the services. Because of their willingness to except any all patient non-profit hospitals receive tax exemption. Also, non-profit hospitals are much busier than profit hospitals. In larger urban cities non-profit hospital are extremely essential to their community. Most of these type of hospital emergency room stay busy. Television show like ER is a visional testament to how non-profit...

Words: 882 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Access to Quality Healthcare Paper

...Running head: ACCESS TO QUALITY HEALTHCARE PAPER ASSIGNMENT Access to Quality Healthcare Paper Rudolphe Lubin University of Phoenix Lori Lewellen MBAJOGZL57 April 27, 2009 Quality Healthcare Introduction It will be evident to realize that financial, educational, and socio – demographic implications can bring serious impact on access to quality healthcare in the organization. Labor shortage will stay an important component that can affect as well the access to quality care. Socio – demographic changes linked with chronic illnesses can have an effect on the aging population, which may reduce the quality of life, increase costs for healthcare and rise resource allocation. In point of fact, both labor shortage and socio – demographic changes are exactingly dominant in the admittance to quality care in the United States. Besides, the demand for registered nurses and changes in science is already exceeding supply in U.S. nation, including more implications associated with other ethical dilemmas. Healthcare Labor Shortage People have to realize that progresses in medical technology, increasing expenses and market forces provide to the financial decline of many rural healthcare organizations. In reality, small rural healthcare suppliers, particularly hospitals, cannot meet the costs of the equipment and practitioners needed to treat the range of modern syndrome and injury...

Words: 1746 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Health Care Refrom

...The rising cost of healthcare in today’s economy is in desperate need of reform. The cost of healthcare has affected the number of people able to receive medical care. Individuals are suffering more than ever because of the inability to receive medical attention when it’s needed. First, the rising cost of healthcare is going to continue to rise year after year. This is making it harder and harder on working class to receive medical care. It is even harder on the unemployed. As President Obama is urging congress for a stimulus this year, many feel that medicine is the best stimulus. America needs a healthy economy. After all, healthcare isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Today the healthcare deduction is getting bigger and bigger. Despite a huge amount of complaints about “over insurance”, the amount people pay for healthcare out of pocket has risen tremendously. The Commonwealth Fund recently completed two massive surveys showing that the proportion of adults younger than 65 with health insurance who spent more than 10 percent of their income on health care out of pocket (5 percent for low-income adults) skyrocketed fro 13.8 million in 2003 to 21.8 million in 2007. (Jacob S. Hacker, Co-Director of the Center for Health, Economic and Family Security at UC Berkeley). This is in response to the hike in deductibles and co-payments in health plans. There are 40 percent of the working-age populations in an immediate economic bind because of medical costs. Second, because of the rising...

Words: 987 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

My Paper

...delivery in America is simply cost. The exorbitant cost of healthcare is the deciding factor in whether and when people get necessary medical care, what doctors they see, and what treatments are available to them. Unfortunately, due to rising costs and the number of insured many people in the US are forgoing basic healthcare services The most important issue affecting the future of health care delivery in America is simply cost. The exorbitant cost of healthcare is the deciding factor in whether and when people get necessary medical care, what doctors they see, and what treatments are available to them. Unfortunately, due to rising costs and the number of insured many people in the US are forgoing basic healthcare services. It has always been a dream of mine to one day open up a medical clinic in the US that specializes in serving the medical needs of individuals who do not have access nor can afford basic quality to healthcare; however one of the major obstacles that I will have to face is cost. As of 2008 nearly 50 million people the US lack basic health care coverage. The vast majority of these individuals are adults between the ages of about 18 to 64, and most of these individuals are from working families working from low to moderate income. TIn America, healthcare is treated as either a commodity or a right. And how our treats it now is as if healthcare where a commodity. And the reason I say this is because, if basic healthcare was treated as a right, then...

Words: 320 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

A Problem Exists

...Assignment 3: A Problem Exists Shalonda Green Professor Wheeler ENG215 May 8, 2015 With the new Affordable Healthcare Care Act everybody is required to have some type of medical Insurance. Should taxes on alcohol and tobacco be increased to help pay for rising medical costs? Medical expenses are rising by the year and we need to find out how to get some assistance to pay for these rising cost and alcohol and tobacco is a necessity and people will pay for it regardless. Taxes on alcohol and tobacco should be increased to help to pay for rising medical cost because it would help the middle and lower class, may lower the influence on tobacco and alcohol, and lower copays. The Affordable Care Act expands the affordability, quality, and availability of private and public health insurance through consumer protections, regulations, subsidies, taxes, insurance exchanges, and other reforms. That makes it easier for everyone to get insurance and also makes it mandatory for everyone to get insurance. However, you must obtain and maintain minimum essential coverage throughout the year, get an exemption, or face a tax penalty for each month you go without coverage. First, Taxes on alcohol and tobacco should be increased to help to pay for rising medical cost because it would help the middle and lower class. Medical expenses in a whole are expensive even with the affordable healthcare act. Which puts a strain on the lower and middle class who is already struggling and trying to maintain and...

Words: 897 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Hcs 440 Week 3

...often base their payments on a modified form of the Medicare RBRVS or use Medicare payment levels as a benchmark (Getzen & Moore, 2007). Spending for health care uses a greater part of the economies revenue: the national studies that have been done in the past decade depict that many citizens of the United States will have to make increasingly more disconcerting decisions in daily life and ability to obtain and afford adequate health care insurance for themselves and their families. While there may be future opportunities to constrain those increasingly difficult choices there may be ways to decrease those problematic and health related choices. Health care spending in the United States far exceeds that of other countries. Healthcare and it’s spending has and will continue to be a major discussion in the public. Year after year, there is millions of dollars spent on the...

Words: 780 - Pages: 4