Health Care Spending Paper Hcs/440

The Congressional Budget office believes that this plan will lower future deficits and the future Medicare spending (Carney, 2012). In 2011 the payout for Medicare and Medicaid was over 900 billion dollars (Is Medicare Spending the Biggest Driver of the Deficit, 2012). The Current system in the United States denies access to health care based on the person’s ability to pay for the coverage before services are required. Under a universal health care system all would have access to the affordable medical care and in some cases be reimbursed some of the cost

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.

There have been many studies performed focusing on the rising costs of health care and some of the findings state that the rising cost of healthcare premiums is a worldwide problem. However, I believe they are higher in the U.S. In 2015, U.S. health care costs were $3.2 trillion. That makes healthcare one of the largest U.S. industries, equaling 17.8 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in comparison to the late 1960s; where healthcare costs were only $27 billion, or 5% of the GDP, which averaged $9,990 per person each year. The main reason for the rising cost of healthcare is a combination of government policies and lifestyles changes. Examples included lack of coverage or costly coverage, lack of available coverage for

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.

For the President, Congress, and its various budgetary agencies, a ideal healthcare system would manage the cost of healthcare, while promoting quality services and equal access to all United States citizens. However, it’s an equation that has eluded the American government unto this day. Furthermore, the idyllic healthcare system would provide preventative care, emergency care, and other maintenance from conception to the death of an individual. Furthermore, while the perfect system is progressive enough to cover every American from life to death, it should be conservative enough to limit the growth of the budget deficit.

The CMS states “In 2014, national health spending is projected to increase to 7.4 percent, or 2.1 percentage-points faster than in the absence of reform as the major coverage expansions from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are expected to result in 22 million fewer uninsured people” ("Public Health Care Needs," 2012, p. 1). The complexity of health care spending and funding is a hot topic in the federal government, the media, and consumer. In this students experience many patients are aware that changes are coming, but the patients are very opinionated by their like or dislike of the President of the United States. This student has found through daily

“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”.

Healthcare spending growth rate trends show astounding estimates. Since 1960, spending has risen from $27 billion ($143 per capita, 5.1% pf GDP) to amazing $1,678.9 billion ($5,670 per capita, 15.3% of GDP, 2003 data) (HHS, 2005). Recent research estimated that by 2013, healthcare spending will be as high as 18.4% of the Growth Domestic Product. It is important to note that the gradual move from hospital to ambulatory setting has resulted in much higher spending on outpatient hospital services and prescription drugs. The spending growth for these two trends is much higher than the overall healthcare cost growth, which, in fact, increases faster than such important economic indicators as GDP growth, inflation growth, and population growth rates.

This was the beginning of the numerous bills that would be passed in an attempt to improve the quality and fairness of United States healthcare. In 2008, the Affordable Care Act was passed in order to lower the cost of healthcare and make quality care more affordable for a larger percentage of the people. According to the 2015 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey, currently 10.4 percent of the United States population still has no health insurance (U.S Census Bureau 1). Only ten percent may seem small, but that is still 33 million Americans that are left without healthcare, which still poses a huge problem. There seems to be heavy debate about how an affordable system can be achieved. There are numerous arguments against the United States adopting a system that puts the entire healthcare system in the hands of the government but there are alternatives such as a single-insurer health care system where the government would essentially provide universal health insurance for all citizens. A single payer system could be a viable and achievable alternative that could potentially cover all necessary costs for medical services and reduce the number of United States citizens without health care to zero.

U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it

Health care spending in the United States is a key contributor to the country's economy. The health care industry provides employment as well as providing services that bring healthier lifestyles, better productivity, and a longer life. Health care also brings the development of new drugs and new medical technology that also helps keep the economy employed. However, although the health care and health care spending does tend to help the economy slightly it is beginning to hinder our economy. "In all industrialized countries, with the exception of the United States, health care affordability is ensured through universal insurance based or tax- finances systems" (Squires, 2012, p.

The above stated facts bring out the engaging issues and increasing costs related with the health care costs. A majority of the US budget goes towards health care costs. Health care expenses has been rising each year impacting every other sector and has had significant impacts on households, businesses, and federal, state, and local governments. As health care costs are increasing it has made it less affordable for families to seek out health insurance. This has directly put a lot of pressure on

The economy is tied into everything that is put into it. Economics certainly apply to health care and the way that health care is administered in our country during this time. To ignore such a vital part of our economy would be disingenuous and dishonest. The purpose of this essay is to examine the relationship between the economy and the health care system. The essay will also investigate this issue by examining the statistical methods that contribute to the measurements of the economic factors that affect the health care system.

Our society is currently suffering from a severely limited supply of health care resources. In his State of the Union address this past January, President Bush announced that he intends to commit an additional 400 billion dollars of the budget over the next decade to reform and strengthen Medicare. Currently, Medicare provides coverage to 40 million elderly; by the year 2031, that number is expected to reach 77 million. [1] As it is, the government allocates 21.6% of its annual budget to meeting health care needs; [2] unbelievably, due to the present nature of the system, even this huge proportion of the budget is not sufficient to meet the requirements of this growing, and aging, population. Today, our