Exploring U.S. Health Care Expenditures

Health care expenditures is an increasing proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries as its share in GDP increased by an average of nearly 2 percent annually in last 40 years. Health care expenditures in the US increased 6.2 on average annually between 1991 and 2011. Health care spending consisted 17.9 percent of GDP in the US in 2011.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) had mame dramatic changes in the field of the health care system, especially in Medicare, that will seriously take effect in American seniors. Indeed, much of the health law’s new spending is financed by spending reductions in the Medicare program. In addition to the provider payment reductions, Obamacare significantly reduces payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by an estimated $156 billion from 2013 to 2022.( Elmendorf, letter to Speaker Boehner). About 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA plans, a system of regulated and private plans competing against each other as an alternative to traditional Medicare. MA plans are attractive to beneficiaries because they offer more generous and comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare by capping out-of-pocket costs and offering drug coverage to a rasonable

The American Dream is described by The Free Dictionary as, “An American ideal of a happy and successful life to which all may aspire” ("Definition," 2013, p. 1) yet this can mean different things to different people. To this student it means happiness, prosperity, health, freedom, and the ability to makes choices according to what this student believes in. For other people, the American Dream will mean similar and probably different things. To many Americans the ability to have health care is a part of the American Dream. Obtaining health care insurance and being able to choose the

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

The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the current level of national healthcare expenditures and to determine if we as Americans are spending too much on healthcare. The author of this paper will provide examples and solutions where we as a nation should add or cut from the healthcare expenditures. This paper will also detail how the general public's healthcare needs are being paid for, the biggest economic healthcare challenge, why the challenge should be addressed, and how this challenge to be financed.

In recent years, health care has been a huge topic in public debates, legislations, and even in deciding who will become the next president. There have been many acts, legislations, and debates on what the country has to do in regards to health care. According to University of Phoenix Read Me First HCS/235 (n.d.), “How health care is financed influences access to health care, how health care is delivered, the quality of health care provided, and its cost”.

Access to Medicare services to the implementation of Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, some say that some will have difficulty finding doctors to accept new Medicare patients and to think that the service provided to Medicare beneficiaries will decline is also a myth. Looking at the findings from the 2011 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey Access to Care research files, one can see the care given to Medicare beneficiaries. In 2011, 96.7 percent of surveyed Medicare beneficiaries claimed that they were satisfied with the quality of care given, which is an increase from 95.1 percent, just ten years ago (CMS, 2012). Giving their doctors good to excellent ratings for the services they provided to them while in their care. These beneficiaries are those who have private health insurance and also expect access to healthcare when Obamacare is implemented next year. But Medicare is gearing up to keep with the coming changes with plans to help beneficiaries. First thing beneficiaries should know is that Medicare is protected, so beneficiaries have the same coverage they had this year, regardless if it’s traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage Plan. Medicare now covers certain preventive services, like mammograms or colonoscopies, without charging you for the Part B coinsurance or deductible, to include free wellness visits (Medicare, 2013). This is not the only good news; Obamacare ensures Medicare protection for another 12-year through 2029. Doctors will see more support from CMS programs through new initiatives and resources to support care coordination (Medicare,

The first concern that is affected by cost shifting lies in the Medicare system. Medicare is provided to individuals who are 65 and older to obtain adequate healthcare, as well as decreasing financial worries. The government’s involvement in controlling the healthcare system can be a major disadvantage to the Medicare system, as well as private insurances. Reimbursement from private insurances and Medicare can be affected so severely that obtaining access to Medicare can become a major issue. Furthermore, the repercussion is illustrated by Dr. Lichter’s statement, “Either something happens or the healthcare system is threatened.” Without cost containment, there will be major shifts of costs to private payers and Medicare beneficiaries” (Hayes, 2008).

The rise of the cost of healthcare has been a hotbutton political issue in the United States in recent years, especially with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. In 1995, the United States spent a little over 13 percent of its GDP on healthcare. By 2013, spending on healthcare had increased to around 17 percent of GDP (World Bank). This trend is projected to continue; healthcare spending will reach some 34 percent of GDP by 2040, with state and federal Medicare and Medicaid spending reaching 15 percent of GDP (Council of Economic Advisors). For comparison, the entire US federal government spent only 20.7 percent of GDP in 2015 (Office of Management and Budget 163) What is driving this

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.

Affordable health care has always been a problem in the United States of American yet we have the largest economy in the world. The Affordable Care Act was signed on March 23, 2010 yet so many Americans are still unable to pay for health insurance. By examining the situation, we can look for problems such as possibly reducing military spending and relocating the extra towards health care which is just one of the examples. A country as large as the United States should not have a problem implementing affordable health care for its citizens. The current cost of health care in the United States should be Affordable for everyone regardless of income.

While Medicare does make it so more people are able to obtain health insurance, it obtains its fee from the government instead of the individual, private client. In Robert Moffit’s article, Medicare at 50: Reform will Better Serve Seniors’ Health Care Needs, Moffit, a senior in the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Health Policy Studies, lists “heavier taxpayer burden” as an issue, citing that Medicare spending will jump significantly from “$613 billion in 2014 to more than $1.2 trillion by 2024” (Moffit). Combined with the massive debt America

Due to the upcoming presidential election, the two major political parties, and their candidates, have been focusing on the primary problems that the nation will face. Chief among those problems is the future of Medicare, the national health-insurance plan. Medicare was enacted in 1965, under the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, in order to provide health insurance for retired citizens and the disabled (Ryan). The Medicare program covers most people aged 65 or older, as well as handicapped people who enroll in the program, and consists of two health plans: a hospital insurance plan (part A) and a medical insurance plan (part B) (Marmor 22). Before Medicare, many Americans didn't have health

The article is talking about the customer’s spending on health care gets lesser because of cost-saving measures within reforms introduced by Barack Obama in 2010. In the article, it shows the annual rate “Between 200 and 2009 real health spending per person grew at an annual rate of 4%”. However, “since 2009 the rate has slackened to just 0.3% a year”. This rate shows how people do not spend on the health care compare the spending from 2000 to 2009 to the spending after 2009. Even though America’s spending on medical care has been decreased, it is over the average of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries’ spending. This happening is occurring not only in the U.S but also in the Euro area. However, the reduction of the spending reveals the country had a recession. For instance, the less spending on health care was occurred after the Euro crisis, the deflation of Euro economies. The recession makes people close their wallet both for medical care cost and for all the public spending. In the other hand, people can assume if the advanced economies can support to increase the suppressed budgets, the public will spend more money on every part, which can bring inflation. As the article said “the OECD projects an increase in average public health spending from 6% of GDP to 8% over the next two decades”, the inflation can occur if the progressive economies help the public’s standard living. Often, technological advances increase the scope and quality

There is no denying the fact that the cost of health care in the United States has been on a constant rise than the wage of the employees that pay to have access to better healthcare. There is the general fear among these employees that if the rising cost of the health care is not brought under control, there will come a time, and some analyst think, the time is already here, when those employees will not be able to afford health care for themselves and their families. This fear of the unknown is particularly evident among those closer to retirement. Employers of labor have for quite sometimes now, been shifting the burden of the high cost of affordable health care to their employees, and that has significantly reduced employee standard of