Health Care Costs On Americans

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.

From an economic perspective, there is an increased recognition of the benefits of society from the promotion of health and the prevention of disease, disability, and premature death. In addition, financing health care has been focused on medicine and some progress has been made towards health promotion and disease prevention; however, the progress in this direction is very slow due to social and institutional beliefs and values.

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order

As progress was made in medicine gradually with new medical technologies which could only be used in the hospitals, doctors started charging more, which was unaffordable for most people, with time, all this started to change as the industrialization of the American economy caused families and people to start relying on services from doctors and the

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.

“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.

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”.

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.

Consequently the U.S. spends more money than any other country on health care, and the medical care that is being provided may be compromised. Research has shown that the lack of health care insurance compromises a person’s health. However, there continues to be unnecessary death every year in the U.S. due to lack of health care

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

One of the most important issues we have in America is the ability to have and receive health care, in our society, human health is one of the most important values. This helps explain why the US spends 17% of its GDP on health care. The majority of Americans are vitally concerned about their health, to the extent that people believe that health care institutions and finance mechanisms affect their personal health, they are vitally concerned with these institutions and mechanisms. Many of us are also concerned about the provision and finance of health care for our fellow Americans, and we believe that the health care system reflects the values and merit of our society. Unfortunately, many Americans have no health insurance and must either pay

Health care costs in the US have been an area of significant concern over the last decade. In 2013 total spending on health care was $2.9 trillion and consumed 42% of federal revenues. Despite the high cost of care, America's health seems to pale in comparison to other developed countries. Blame is often assigned to poor health policy, an aging and overweight population, and inefficient systems that involve unnecessary testing and extended hospital stays. While all of these factors undoubtedly play a role, perhaps it is the very foundations and methodologies of western medicine that are causing the uncontrollable climb of health care costs.

Americans spend more on health care than any other country in the world. US health care spending reached $2.6 trillion in 2010 (Health Care Issues). If the government supplied health care to the people that cannot afford it, the costs of health care would plummet. Health care is in high demand because it is essential to the well being of people; therefore, it is expensive. In The U.S., costs for office visits, lab tests, medical procedures, hospital stays, and prescription drugs are often much higher than in other countries. For example, the average cost for a day in a U.S. hospital is $4,287; in France, it’s $853. The total price for a normal birth is $10,000 in the U.S.; in the United Kingdom, its $2641(Better Care at Low Cost: Is It Possible?). If the demand for health care was lesser, the cost would also become lesser. Since the government would be paying for health care for the people who cannot afford it, Americans would no longer have to pay for the extra costs that make up for people who lack health

The argument of healthcare has been a hotly contested issue among many if not all people around the world, with the advent of early detection and preventative medicine the cost of such procedures and equipment have also advanced and increased. The sentiment is that people want the greatest healthcare but are not able to afford some if not all the climbing costs without some form of financial assistance. The idea of health insurance has been around for a long time, but the overwhelming cost has mostly outweighed the advantage it poses. The annual premium spent on healthcare in 2015 was USD $15,475 , with the mean income in the United States totaling USD $50,000 that totals 30% of total income that would have to be