Essay On The Cost Of Health Care

Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.

Our Healthcare system is clearly business based according to the article “Cost Conundrum” and on the movie “Escape Fire”. In the movie it had an impacting story of an older lady who had heart problems where she went to a doctor and they were going to charge her thousands of dollars were later she went to a different doctor and they charged her a couple hundred dollars for t he same procedure. I couldn’t believe that in a different office she would get the same procedure done for a lot cheaper than in the other doctor’s office. Also, it surprised me how the medical staff are giving all these medications to our soldiers were they are clearly

One of the biggest problems small employers face today is the steadily rising costs of health coverage for its employees. This paper covers how health care premiums have risen in double digits for the past five consecutive years, how many small businesses are forced to drop health care coverage for their employees because of the out of control costs, and what small businesses are doing to control the costs and still offer health care coverage to their employees.

The nation health care system is facing significant challenges that requiring immediate major reforms. Lately close attention is drawn to the uninsured Americans, such as the most painful dilemmas of health care system. The problem of uninsured and uncompensated care continues significantly contribute to the rise of the health care cost and has been a chief topic for public debates and political campaigns for a long time. The purpose of this paper is to describe the current extent of uninsured care and provide the strategies from the nursing point of view how to change the trajectory of this prevalent issue in the USA health care system.

“The biggest problem with health care is not with insurance or politics. It is that we are measuring the wrong things the wrong way” (Kaplan & Porter, 2011, p. 46). Total healthcare expenditures and expenditures as a percentage of GDP have been considerably higher in the U.S. Hospital care, physician and clinical services, and drug prescription expenditures have been the principal components contributing to growth in healthcare expenditures in the U.S. compared to other countries. The study also analyses and compares the growth of healthcare costs. Three different perspectives on the health care “cost crisis” are understanding the value of health care, most health care costs are fixed and healthcare cost covered by health insurance program. In this paper share ideas to help solve the cost crisis in healthcare.

I 've learned while conducting these interviews that both individuals have similar issues with the healthcare system.

There is no doubt that healthcare cost are rising out of control. No one likes the

Traditionally the American health care system relied heavily a repayment model referred to as fee-for-service which is described as a form of repayment that generates a greater emphasis on the volume of patients seen rather than healthy outcomes produced under a physician’s care. The fee-for-service repayment method poses multiple issues such as: duplicating services which in turn renders some of the services unnecessary, utilization of expensive technology because of the revenue generation rather than as a valuable diagnostic tool and crowding caseloads to an unmanageable level in order to achieve highest level of reimbursement. The aforementioned events not only have the possibility of being unethical but also drive up the cost of health care in the United States. Currently, health care costs have not only increased, but the Office of the Actuary projected that U.S. healthcare spending will make up nearly 20 percent of the economy in 2019. One would argue that if as a country we are spending so much on health care that we should be a “healthier” nation, but this is not the case. Even though America continues to be the largest spender on health care, collectively we experience a lower life expectancy rate compared to other industrialized countries (hfma.com, 2011, p. 2). To assist with climbing health care rates healthcare purchasers have called for repayment reform. One such reform that has been on the forefront is Value-Based Health Care (VBH), also known as outcome

Health care is considered as one of the top priority in U.S. Healthcare works nothing like any market transactions. As a consumer, people are kept away from the real action that takes place between providers, hospitals, labs, drug companies and device manufacturers and the private and government entities that pay them. The same providers push Americans to newer and more expensive treatments, even when there is no evidence that these are much better than the previous one.

One of the most stunning and irreversible changes in the past 60 years has been the American lifestyle. People are spending much more time in the cars than on their feet, playing sports in front of the game consoles instead of going out, and relying more on innovative “magical” pills than changing into healthier living habits. Consequently, health-related costs have more than doubled to 18% of GDP (2016 figure) in the past 60 years and will reach 20% in the not too distant future based on some prognosis.

Health care cost is defined in three meanings. One is price which consist of physician’s bill, prescription bill, premiums. Second one is national perspective means how much a nation spends on health care that is health care expenditure and the last one is provider perspective which is cost of production.

This is important to consider because more doctors want to pursue specialties and that creates a shortage in family practices. These shortages in front line care can then raise the cost of receiving basic care services patients receive and using a simple supply versus demand equation cost for health care increases.

The American Health Care system to say the least is wasteful, bloated, and generally inefficient and therefore in dire need for immediate review. This has largely been as a result of factors such as costs, poor investment return for outlays, inequitably distribution, and being based on anachronistic business model geared at treating diseases more than promoting wellness. The figures are all there to see why a radical surgery of the health care reforms has been long overdue.

Every year, the United States spends eight times as much money on unnecessary health-care costs as the Pentagon spent for each year of its operations in Iraq. About 30 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare in the United States is wasted in some fashion. The massive annual waste is the takeaway from a new report by the Institute of Medicine, which estimates that the country loses some $750 billion annually to medical fraud, inefficiencies, and other siphons in the health-care system.

The health care is an expensive industry, however it plays a significant role in the lives of many. As we continues to find the best way possible to decrease avoidable medical errors and techniques that decreases fraudulent activities, together we can build an industry that is rather effective and at a lower cost. Up coding is a burden in health care and should be a concern to everyone. It has significant budgetary impact and affects everyone from government officials, taxpayers, insurers, and even premiums- payers. Dishonest health care professionals who exploit Federal health care programs for illegal personal gain can result in overpayments that raise Medicare premium and weaken Medicare’s Finances. Most relies on health care profession to submit accurate claims when requesting payment for reimbursement for Medicare covered healthcare equipment’s and services. The failure to accurately do so can have negative health ramifications for both patients the Federal Government. Up coding has created the need for laws that can combat fraud abuse and ensure appropriate quality medical care. The HCFA had a major responsibility that they failed to accomplish. The investigating team from the case study noticed two major concerns, the hospitals system has significant vulnerabilities to upcoding that can easily be avoided and also found that, despite these vulnerabilities, Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is not performing routine, ongoing monitoring and analysis of DRG