Health Care Spending in America Essay

In 1954, Congress passed legislation allowing employers to provide health insurance benefits to employees on a tax-free basis (Sih and Singh 99). This legal provision marked the beginning of the rapidly expanding health care costs still apparent today due to the major incentives provided by the government to obtain employer-based health coverage. The overwhelming popularity of employer-based health insurance has led to a serious market inefficiency resulting from the system of third-party payment. As individuals rely on their insurance companies to pay for their medical expenses, this provides

Citizens in America obtain healthcare either through an employer, Medicare, or ,for the forty-five million, out-of-pocket. The number one in healthcare, Japan, uses the Bismarck model system- healthcare through insurance. America is almost the same, except the Bismarck insurance insures everyone without making a profit. Japan has more privately owned hospitals than America. This model can be funded several different ways for cost-control. The reason we have not changed our healthcare system is because of federal debt. Half of the health care costs are paid by the government. This debt will be America's downfall, but also the healthcare reform it so desperately

Continued increases in healthcare spending can negatively impact all sectors of the economy (Sood, Ghosh, and Escarse 2007). Budgets are currently limited, so an increase in healthcare funding could mean a reduction in funding to other areas such as education, and businesses, or may cause the government to increase restrictions or raise taxes (Sood, Ghosh,

The intended audience for this argument is any individual who provides or receives health care in America. This paper can also be read and understood by anyone who is curious about the effects of health care costs on Americans.

In 2014, the U.S. health care spending increased 5.3% to $3.0 trillion, or $9,523 per person, a faster increase than the 2.9% in 2013. The spending increased due to extensive coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2014b). In 2014, Medicare spending grew 5.5% to $618.7 billion and represented 20% of the national health expenditure, a faster increase than the 3% growth in 2013. The spending increased due to prescription drugs, physician and clinical services, government administration, and insurance (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2014b). In 2014, Medicaid spending grew 11% to $495.8 billion and represented 16% of the national health expenditures, a faster increase

Today, health care issues within the United States are still a major concern in regards to where people of our communities do not always agree with what is being done and what is not being done. The three major issues with health care spending is how much is it going to cost and where is the money going to come from? The amount of per-patient costs have doubled more in the United States than other nations around us. The last issue is the amount of Americans that has no health care at all. This paper will discuss the healthcare expenditures that is necessary for our entire population.

As a result of enacting the Affordable Care Act, insurance costs will increase because the government will offer universal healthcare. This requires an exorbitant amount of “new [medical] technology [which] will increase efficiency; the cost of new tests and treatments will outweigh the savings”, consuming millions of dollars (Whelan). Therefore the price of healthcare will increase in order to cover all these expenses needed to contribute to the nation’s overall health. Without the Affordable Care Act in effect, the current annual average expense of healthcare insurance is estimated to be around $5,600 per person, an increase compared to $4,255 in 2010 (Kaiser Family Foundation). After the recession that began in 2007, “the government expects that the growth of healthcare spending will outpace the expansion of the economy. By 2020, 1 of every 5 dollars spent in the U.S. is expected to go to healthcare” (Levey). This thus proves that as time passes the amount of healthcare is going to increase, but precise expenses cannot be predicted since it will be evident in the following years to come.

I argue that advances in technology, nondiscretionary costs, and lack of competition in the medical equipment, pharmaceutical retail and insurance markets are the main reasons behind the high cost of health care. In this paper, I will use and analyze various resources like America’s Health Care Crisis: Who’s Responsible by Nancy Levitin, Health Care USA: Understanding its Organization and Delivery by Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young, and Epidemic of Care by George J. Isham and George C. Halvorson to prove and support my argument, which is that advances in technology, nondiscretionary costs, and lack of competition in the medical equipment retail market, are the specific factors behind the rising cost of health care. I will also propose different strategies that will help achieve lowering the price of healthcare. Many people across the nation are unable to seek medical attention due to insufficient funds. If people do not receive health care, communicable diseases may spread more often on a large scale and life-threatening diseases may go undiagnosed leading to an increase in death rates. Making health care affordable can be achieved by making advanced technology less expensive, decreasing the amount of nondiscretionary costs, and increasing the competition in the medical equipment, pharmaceutical retail and insurance markets.

The total health care spending in the United States is expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010, and, $75 billion in 1970. To put it in context, this means that healthcare spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2012. Many consumers and small employers are struggling to afford their health insurance premiums. Some employers are not able to offer health care coverage at all. For firms with fewer than 10 employees, only 50% offered coverage to their workers in 2012.

Health care spending has grown rapidly over the past four decades, more than any other sector of the economy. Increases in the cost of health care in the United States is evidenced by per capita expenditures and by measuring health care expenditures in relationship to the Gross Domestic Product (Conklin, 2002). The rapid growth in expenditures is caused by a variety of factors. Initially, growth in the United States

The United States (US) cost of health is higher than other countries. The population health status has improved but more work needs to be done. However, in 2007 the US spent $7,290 per capital on health care. In the early 1990’s health care spending was $714 billion by 2007 the spending was 2.2 trillion dollars (Berryman, Palmer, Kohl, & Parham, 2013).

This paper utilizes five established sources to examine and analyze the effects unstable and constantly changing healthcare costs have on the American economy. These sources all express different components of healthcare spending that play a major role in the economy. By utilizing Federal Health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, these sources provide an inside look on ways in which these programs affect the economy. Cheeseman (2008) expands on how healthcare costs affect businesses and Johnson of The Associated Press describes how it affects the economy as a whole applying numerous factors such as components that make up the healthcare spending, how they hinder the progression of other aspects of economy by limiting government spending to healthcare, and their immediate effect on workers and businesses. Though healthcare is beneficial to some, Light (2016) reveals the darker effects it carries on the economy. Cohn (2014) provides a catalog of problems economists face when the facts concerning health care costs are concerned and outlines a series of statistics that display yearly growth rates in healthcare costs, and actual and projected growth in healthcare spending. Auerbach and Kellerman (2011) present findings on how increasing healthcare costs impacts the American family when available income and buying power is concerned while providing data and statistics to complement discoveries and build a solid case on how the bad outweighs the good. This

The healthcare industry has long been the most demanding field and largely impacts the economy. Whether this impact is negative or positive fluctuates. The government’s goal is to have healthcare positively impact the economy, which is why the Affordable Care Act was implemented. The Act states health insurance companies must offer coverage to all comers, and prohibitions must be set preventing insurance companies from charging higher prices to sicker people. Those opposed say the Act will be the downfall of healthcare and negatively impact the economy. However, this is not the case thanks to the stabilizing effect of subsidies and has had the opposite effect. The economy has improved thanks to the Act. As mentioned previously, healthcare is

Most government financed systems are inclined to make available for every person living in the nation with treatment which proposes access to some fundamental level of care. Majority of people pay for coverage through taxes and additional charges. In government financed health care the government may provide care itself such as the United Kingdom or they may contact other providers to do so ex: Germany and Japan or in the United States

The cost of health care in the United States continues to rise. National healthcare expenditures totaled over $2.9 trillion in 2013, equating to $9,255 per capita (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). This is a consequence of both private and government healthcare financing mechanisms including: high unit prices, market power, specialized medicine, medical malpractice, private health insurance costs, ill populations, not utilizing best practices, and a medical model versus population health focus (Kutter, 2008; Rice & Unruh, 2016; Sultz & Young, 2014).