19 April 2011 What can be done to help health care cost? 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 …show more content…
Hospitals also provide unnecessary and expensive care to those patients that are on life support. Discuss options with those patients and make sure they are aware of the cost they are willing to leave their family to deal with. Helping hospitals cut those expenses is another important action to take. A patient suffering from one or more major illnesses may depend on several different doctors to help them. These doctors usually never talk to one other. The patient’s medical bills are stacking up because doctors are running the same test over again. With the doctors not communicating, it means that there will be extra treatments, double prescriptions and more of the same test. Patients should make sure their doctors talk to each other and know which test have been given and the results of the test. A person can also keep their own medical records for their personal files. Doctor offices will charge anywhere from $10 to $100 to transfer medical records. There are some offices that do not charge if patients request a copy of their medical records. Another major way to cut cost individually will just be for every citizen to take better care of themselves. It does not take much for a person to eat better and to do mild exercising in order to reduce their individual healthcare bills. Also, many common illnesses can be treated with over the counter drugs. Do not
It is no secret that the cost of American healthcare is becoming increasingly more expensive. However, the issue of the rising cost of healthcare and its severity needs to be recognized as a major problem. Health prices are steadily increasing in the United States, and there is no sign of it stopping. Since 1970, spending on American health care has grown 9.8%, which is a rate that is growing faster than the economy (“New Technology”.) Furthermore, health insurance premiums are also increasing at a rate five times faster than American salaries, which makes it difficult for families to afford health care coverage (Zuckerman 28). Therefore, it has become an obligation to address why the cost of American health care is soaring and to seek out a solution to lower the cost. Many would jump to the conclusion that the United States simply charges too much for their medical services, but there are deeper influences that need to be analyzed. The causes of the rising cost of health care are people not using preventive health care, the development of modern technology, and the treatments being overprescribed. A possible solution is to have preventive health care services available in clinics of low-income areas.
For the last five years of my life I have worked in the healthcare industry. One of the biggest issues plaguing our nation today has been the ever rising cost of health care. If we don't get costs under control, we risk losing the entire system, as well as potentially crippling our economy. For the sake of our future, we must find a way to lower the cost of health care in this nation.
The health care system has had a negative impact on both insured families and uninsured families. Many believe that health care reforms are unnecessary and hence should not be applied. Reducing health care costs will not necessarily benefit the economy. After spending decades trying to reduce health care costs, some commentators and policymakers now argue that health care costs should be increased to stimulate the economy. At the crux of the argument are the notions that increasing spending on health care will create jobs that can be filled by those losing jobs in other areas of the economy and that implementing long-proposed reforms will reduce health care costs. Nay-Sayers argue that health care reforms will only prevent economic growth, and that increasing health care costs in order to reduce them is an inconsistent belief. These two arguments are fundamentally at odds with each other. Advocates claim simultaneously that it would stimulate economic growth to spend more money on these reforms, and that the reforms would reduce total health care costs.
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.
President Obama signed The Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010. The goal of the Affordable Care Act was to provide health care for all Americans and to help control the growth in health care spending. In addition to health insurance reforms, the Affordable Care Act includes tax provisions that affect individuals, families, businesses, insurers, tax-exempt organizations and government entities. These new tax provisions impact health insurance provided by employers.
There are many problems with healthcare in America today. One of them including the astronomical cost. According to CDC.ORG in 2007 the average person spends seven thousand four hundred dollars per year on health care alone. This rise in healthcare is extremely detrimental for families, seniors, and people of all ages. With such a high cost of insurance people are forced to make hard choices in
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a very controversial topic that I never quite understood until I got to read the supplemental chapter untitled “The Affordable Care Act: A Brief History, Assessment, and Future Challenges.” Throughout this paper, I will be answering five questions about the ACA. The first question has to do with listing and explaining three demographics that contributed to disparities in health insurance coverage prior to the ACA. There were many demographics that contributed to disparities in health insurance coverage in America prior to the adaption of the Affordable Care Act. Some of those demographics had to do with race, age, citizenship, or region of the country. One of them had to do with racial demographics, which
Consider the similarities and differences between the NASW Code of Ethics and the Trauma Informed Care principles and the section on ethics in TIP 57. Please discuss differences or complementarities that you observe.
Though difficult, there are multiple ways to help and lighten the weight federal spending is used on healthcare. First off is to increase the savings in the current healthcare law. This could be done through reduced Medicare payments to health providers and insurers, cutting cost if savings don’t materialize.24 We can incentivize both employers and employees to choose cost-effective health plans. This is down by capping the tax exclusion of employer-provided health benefits.25 We could also increase the retirement age. This is down by gradually raising it first to 67 from 65, and further increasing it as needed.26 A out worldly idea is to pay the patients rather than the physician.27 Patients would use the insurance to receive a fixed cost based on the medical condition they have and will be able to use it in a medical provider under any terms and conditions the patient wants.27 This will allow the patient to have a freedom of choosing where they want to get medical service and would minimize spending since it is a fixed amount.
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.
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.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how a Public Health Nurse’s role plays in the Health Care Reform. I will describe a public health commpentenciy and disduss why it is important related to Public Health Nursing. I will then discuss what the future to public health nursing is relation to the Health Care Reform.
In United States of America, there are some problems that the medical sector of the country is currently facing. The major issue that the country is facing today is the issue of High Healthcare Cost. The rate at which Healthcare costs in the United States are rising is about two to three times faster than the rate of inflation. This trajectory is not justifiable. There is really a high increase in the Health care cost of America. Something is going to have to give. A lot of people are deeply feeling it and also the nation of United States are being punished on multiple fronts due to the rising of health care cost. The soaring cost of medical care has forced hard choices
The high cost of health care in the United States is one of the most important issues that the economy is facing. The United States spends the most on healthcare in the world: “Data from the OECD show that the U.S. spent 17.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care in 2013. This was almost 50% more than the next-highest spender (France, 11.6% of GDP) and almost double what was spent in the U.K. (8.8%). U.S. spending per person was equivalent to $9,086 (not adjusted for inflation).”1 All of this spending will eventually affect the growth of the economy, especially since it is only likely to keep increasing as many people still can’t afford
To make health care coverage more affordable, the country must address the soaring cost of medical care that continues to increase at a dangerous rate. A greater focus is needed on the main drivers of medical cost growth: soaring prices for medical services, new costly prescription drugs and medical technologies, unhealthy lifestyles, and an outdated fee-for-service system.