Health Care Spending
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- Date Submitted: 07/22/2012 06:21 PM
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Health Care Spending
Carolyn L. Porter
HCS 440
June 18, 2012
Steven Miracle
Health Care Spending
For many people who go to see their doctors periodically they already know and understand that health care cost has risen. Simply go to the pharmacist to get a prescription filled, and they will see firsthand just how expensive paying for medicines has also risen. Take a little time and walk through Walgreens and CVS and look at the medicines on the shelves and view the price increases just in the past year and your wallet will start screaming. The cost of health care is still constantly rising, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. People are paying more for health care than they are for food, even though it has gone up too. Many people who are faced with a serious illness are left monetarily in a serious situation, which sometimes leads to filing bankruptcy. There are serious problems with the health care system in America, and there seems to be no solutions.
“The U.S. government spent more than $2.3 trillion on health care in 2008, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In 2008, U.S. health care spending averaged $7,681 per person in 2008. At the same time, for consumers, premiums continue to rise sharply. Since 1999, they have increased 131 percent for employer-sponsored health coverage, according to Kaiser. Stories of families facing unaffordable premium hikes can be found across the country.
"Health care costs are partly so high because they have been increasing rapidly," said Stuart Guterman, assistant vice president for the Commonwealth Fund's Program on Payment System Reform. "There's a long list of factors like technology and the organization of health care that doesn't promote efficient and effective care."
Despite President Obama's bipartisan health care summit last month, both parties continue to bicker about what should be included in a health care bill with each side...
Carolyn L. Porter
HCS 440
June 18, 2012
Steven Miracle
Health Care Spending
For many people who go to see their doctors periodically they already know and understand that health care cost has risen. Simply go to the pharmacist to get a prescription filled, and they will see firsthand just how expensive paying for medicines has also risen. Take a little time and walk through Walgreens and CVS and look at the medicines on the shelves and view the price increases just in the past year and your wallet will start screaming. The cost of health care is still constantly rising, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. People are paying more for health care than they are for food, even though it has gone up too. Many people who are faced with a serious illness are left monetarily in a serious situation, which sometimes leads to filing bankruptcy. There are serious problems with the health care system in America, and there seems to be no solutions.
“The U.S. government spent more than $2.3 trillion on health care in 2008, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In 2008, U.S. health care spending averaged $7,681 per person in 2008. At the same time, for consumers, premiums continue to rise sharply. Since 1999, they have increased 131 percent for employer-sponsored health coverage, according to Kaiser. Stories of families facing unaffordable premium hikes can be found across the country.
"Health care costs are partly so high because they have been increasing rapidly," said Stuart Guterman, assistant vice president for the Commonwealth Fund's Program on Payment System Reform. "There's a long list of factors like technology and the organization of health care that doesn't promote efficient and effective care."
Despite President Obama's bipartisan health care summit last month, both parties continue to bicker about what should be included in a health care bill with each side...