Why Are U.S. Healthcare Costs So High?

Living in the United States, there is one essential thing you need to have, which is health insurance. Health insurance is a type of insurance that can covers cost of medical and surgical expenses when you need them. Without health insurance, the cost of one single surgery would be a enormous number. But in the United States, there are about 46 million americans are uninsured. To them, the cost of health insurance is too high. In America, the average cost of health insurance per month is about $328 and the minimum wage per hour in here is $7.25(where cite from?). From here, we can conclude that it is too expensive for those people to get sick. So, is the health insurance cost unjustifiably high? The answer is the highly developed technology, waste of health care budget and the free competitor in the health insurance market, caused health insurance’s price to remain so high.

25% or more of one’s income going toward health care is too much for today’s economy this

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 main economic challenge for the healthcare system in the United State will be the rising expenses associated with Medicare and Medicaid. The Governments share of healthcare spending is predicted to rise to 31 percent by the year 2020 (Keehan, Sisko, Truffer, Poisal, Cuckler, Madison, Lizonitz, and Smith, 2011). This may jeopardize the economic stability and financial security of the nation.

America faces a choice, keep The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, or scrap it and come up with something better. The ACA in its entirety leaves room for improvement. It could do better, much better, if it weren’t for matters of political expediency. Currently the United States spends more on health care than any other country. According to a Huffington Post article (2013) the U.S. spends about 17.2 percent of their GDP on medical care. Health care per capita is approximately $8,608, second only to Switzerland, which spends $9,121.

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

Although there are increases in health spending, most of them are not all that bad. Economists believe that it makes countries become wealthier and others say that all additional expenditures can be good investments. Another positive outlook on health care expenditures is that it can be a hassle from some but for others it is a means of income as well. The other factors that also contribute to health care costs are increased labor, resistance of consumers to managed care restrictions, the upcoming aging population as well. Regardless of the health care spending increases, there are ways to this situation. We can start with the government and how they can get rid of any programs that are not really needed and taking away time and money that can be used elsewhere.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), health care spending in the United States has grown at a rate of 3.7 percent since 2012 to $2.8 trillion, costing the U.S. 17.9 percent of total its GDP and ranking it number one spending on health care (Martin et al 67; world bank). Despite having the most expensive healthcare per capita, according to The Commonwealth Fund - a private American foundation dedicated to the promotion of a high performance healthcare system - the U.S. ranks at the bottom of the top ten wealthiest nations in terms of “access, efficiency, and equity” (Davis

In 1998, the United States devoted 13% of its economy to health care, and this figure rose to 16% by 2008. However, despite this rise in government expenditure on health care, outcomes for patients remained the same (Obama, 2016). The quality of the health care system in general was not great; health care

The fact is that the U.S. spends more money on health care than any other country in the world, even when adjusting for relative wealth, according to a 2008 study by Mkcinsey Global Institute (MGI). In 2012 that number was about 2.6 trillion dollars or 18.6% of their gross domestic product (GDP) (13), in other words the U.S. spent about 8,915 dollars per person on health care, or more than twice what they spent on food and more than China spent on all goods and services combined (See Figure 1, MG1 2008). The amount spent on health care is expected to continue to rise , though that rise has slowed in the last three years, estimates suggest it could reach nearly 4.8 trillion dollars by 2021; which would be roughly one fifth of the U.S. GDP (15)

The United States healthcare system has been the topic of much debate lately, with many propositions and reforms introduced to the public to remedy the many complaints made against the current system. The U.S. spend entirely too much money on health care. Based on data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the "U.S. spent more on health care per capita ($4, 849) and more than 17 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to health care" (Squires, 2012).

The United States spends extremely highly on health care compared to the rest of the OECD members. For instance, the U.S. health care system spending per capita in 2006 was $6,714; the cost was over double the mean per capita spending of the OECD 30 industrialized countries, which was $2,880 (Anderson & Squires, 2010). Additionally, the U.S. health care system spending per capita was 50% higher compared to that of Norway; in 2006, Norway spent $4,520 (Anderson & Squires, 2010). Second, the health care expenditure in the USA in 2006 comprised of 15.3% of GDP, whereas in other OECD nations, it was largely less than ten percent and did not exceed

This account alone just gives a statistical sense about how much we have been spending for just health care in the U.S. However, when one examine countries like France which is ranked among the most excellent health care system on the globe by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States is ranked 37th. As a matter of fact, only 9.6% of France’s GDP, and expenditure allocation is on health care

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that "The health of the individual is almost inseparable from the health of the larger community and that the health of every community in every state and territory determines the overall health status of the nation." It has now become clear that our economy in terms of healthcare insurance is not healthy; the healthcare system in the United States spends 1 cent of every healthcare dollar in the prevention of diseases and 99 cents on the cure. Our healthcare system is the most expensive and yet arguably among the least cost effective in the developed world. Despite the highest per person health care spending among the Organization for Economic Cooperation

Why is health care so expensive? According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, “The biggest reason is that the United States health care system delivers a more expensive mix of services. A large proportion of physician visits in the United States are for specialists who charge at a higher rate”. (Fuchs, 2013). For instance, an individual who has symptoms of hemorrhoids, can go to their general physician and receive a prescription for hemorrhoid cream or advised to pick up over the counter cream at their local Wal-Mart or Kroger. However, if additional complications arise, they will need to schedule an appointment with a gastroenterologist, who specializes in that area. Nevertheless, why are physicians who specialize in specific