Hcs 440 Economics: the Financing of Healthcare

Rising health care costs became an issue after the Medicare and Medicaid programs were formed in 1965 and have continued to be a factor in the United States economy since then. “By1970, U.S. government expenditures for health care services and supplies had grown by 140%, from $7.9 billion to $18.9 billion.”() By the 1990s the annual increase in the government health care expenditures was finally brought under control and has fluctuated between a 5% and 8% increase each year since then. This essay will discuss the different factors contributing to the rising costs of health care in the United States, as well as how the cost of health care affects the accessibility and quality of medical care throughout American history.

Expansion of the Medicaid coverage to all new eligible adults and increase fee for service and managed care by primary care physicians will be financed by federal funding. This will cause an outreageous increase in the Federal deficit from the historical 2.9% Gross Domestic Product to more than 20% by 2050.

One of the issues is the increasing cost of healthcare which is dominating the health policy in U.S. this is accompanied by an increase in spending on healthcare. According to projections by the government, the spending on medical care will continue to rise. U.S spends more money on health care than any other nation globally (Holtz, 2013). The increase in the spending is as a result of improved tools for disease diagnosis, better surgical interventions among others. This raises an issue for the policy makers on the maximum GDP percentage that a country has to spend on healthcare, and whether the nation will afford the cost that is continually growing. In contemplating any change in the health policy, policy makers should consider the cost of the healthcare and the ability of the nation to support that high cost.

Impact to Healthcare organizations - These increases in cost raise questions of health care expenses at the hospital level. As higher profits are sought, the cost will become unstable for all, thus causing many to postpone going to the doctor. However, there are many complicated problems associated with our healthcare system. We will focus on main issues that can correct many related problems within the current structure. More importantly, we need to find ways to ensure all Americans have access to health care; and we need to hone in on how we can get the best value for the $2 trillion dollars we spend annually on healthcare.

This paper will include: the current health care expenditures whether spending is too much or not enough, where the nation should add or cut, how the public’s health care needs are paid and provide a forecast for: the future economic needs, why these needs must be addressed, how I envision these needs will be financed and conclusion.

“The amount people pay for health insurance increased 30 percent from 2001 to 2005, while income for the same period of time only increased 3 percent.” (Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). The rising cost of healthcare is a huge problem in America today. In this paper I will analyze the different issues and causes for the increase in cost.

The Supreme Court 's favorable ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act allowed for healthcare to be available for many Americans who would otherwise not receive medical benefits. This is because it increases the number of people covered by Medicare/Medicaid, and lowers the cost of insurance through employers. While this idea is good in theory, paying for it is a challenge due to the fact that it will only add to the nation’s already enormous debit of several trillion dollars (Mulvany, 2012). From 2010-2019, the United States is predicted to spend around 400 billion dollars on healthcare. This prediction has prompted lawmakers to reduce spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other welfare programs. The spending cuts will result in less people getting the care they need due to the limited availability of money for care and the increase in the number of beneficiaries receiving

The costs associated with Medicaid have continued to increase over the years, consuming a larger amount of both federal and state budgets throughout the country. There are now worries about Medicaid eating up state budgets throughout several states. In Kaiser Health News, Rau (2013) reported that "health spending will rise faster than economic growth." With such a significant increase in Medicaid costs, there is the danger of notable shortfalls within the Medicaid spending at the state level. Without adequate reforms, the costs associated with Medicaid threaten to consume a larger portion of state budgets, which could sequentially affect other budget items. An increase in the number of enrollees, growth in provider payments, and an increase in healthcare costs are some of the main reasons for an increase in Medicaid costs. The intricacy of the Medicaid costs problem within the United States is made worse by a decrease in state funds.

The main cause for the healthcare reform bill is the rising cost of health insurance for the American citizens. From the 1960s to the 1980s healthcare spending went from $28 billion to $255 billion. By the beginning of 2000, healthcare spending increased to $1.4 trillion. The United States economy has slowly declined due to several factors, the cost of health care is one. Presidents, state representatives, hospital and insurance executives, and economists have tried to attack this huge deficit. There are several things that can be done in order to reduce rapidly increasing health care spending. Some actions that could benefit the United States economy is the stop of wasteful

One of the issues that is widely discussed and debated concerning the United States economy is the healthcare system. Unlike in the majority of developed and developing countries, the healthcare system in the United States is not public, meaning that the state does not provide free or cheap healthcare services. This paper addresses many of the factors contributing to the rising cost of healthcare.

US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of

Financing the United States (U.S.) health care system is complicated and difficult at best. The role policy makers and health care professionals play in the reform and restructuring of the U.S. health care system is very important. The overarching consideration of supply and demand in the U.S. health care system relies on a workforce, financing, and cost of delivering quality healthcare to the U.S. population (Knickman & Kover, 2015). To improve overall quality of care, healthcare providers and policy makers have to look at how services are going to be structured in the future. In this essay we will be exploring how health care services can be financed and at what level: government, state, local or private, is there a way to deliver cost effective and accessible heath care, and consider the ethical dilemmas related to achieving quality, accessible, national health care.

People today are living longer and experts believe that in several years there will be older people than younger people which will make paying for healthcare almost impossible for the younger generation. According to Steuerle, Medicare and Medicaid take up more than half of the federal health program spending, (Steuerle, 2016). At this rate, our country’s health care cost will be uncontrollable. The healthcare system is basically upside down today. If the government does not find a way to stabilize it, there will be a health care

Medicare and Medicaid account for a large and growing share of federal spending. In the years to come, federal spending on health care will rise sharply—mostly because of increasing costs per beneficiary but also because the aging of the baby boom generation will significantly raise the number of beneficiaries. If health care spending grows as projected under current law, future budget deficits will rise to levels that will seriously jeopardize long-term economic growth unless policymakers sharply reduce other projected spending, substantially increase revenues as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), or do some combination of the two.

The OECD started a network to provide help with budgeting healthcare spending, furthermore their goal is to help policy makers understand the problems with the system and come up with alternative solutions (White, 2014). Budget makers can make an argument that health care spending displace investments in the fiscal space. Citizens probably be willing to pay more when it comes to maintain the healthcare programs (White, 2014). When spending is unsustainable it means that the support from Politian’s was not sustained, which is it was no support for the redistribution for the spending. The United States faces the most challenging of other countries with the redistribution health spending, either it is too high, less affordable for individuals and incomes are not equal (White,