Hcs/440 Health Care Spending

Health Care Spending

HCS/440
April 28, 2014
David Moody, Ph.D.

Health Care Spending
Affordable health care is a part of the “American Dream”, which the American Dream is described as “an American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire” (Definition, 2013, p.1.). To many Americans the ability to have health insurance is a part of the American Dream Obtaining health care insurance and being able to choose the insurance they can afford is part of their own “American Dream”. This dream is slowly turning into a nightmare with “42.6 million Americans uninsured including 10 million children” (Anderson, DNP, RN,CNE, 2014) . The needs of the current health care system must be addressed and modified to meet the needs of many uninsured Americans. Determining whether current health care expenditures, whether spending is too much or too little is essential to making the proper changes to the health care system.
Health care costs are continuing to increase. Projections are based on National Health Expenditures and are estates of spending for health care in the U.S. over the next decade. These projections are presented by type pf services rendered, such as hospital care, physician services, nursing home care, or other services, and by source of funding for those services such as Medicare, private health insurance, Medicaid, and out-of-pocket. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), “U.S. health care spending reached $2.7 trillion in 2011, or around $8,680 per person. Health spending grew almost 4 percent in 2011; this was the same growth rate as in 2009 and 2010 (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2012) .
The United States pays the most per person of any other country, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) is an agency comprised of 34 nations that compare data regarding different economies worldwide. One of the areas they focus on is collecting data on health care expenditures. In...