Healthcare Is Expensive Without Showing Better Results

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

The high cost of healthcare continues to rise and many in the United States are optimistic for health information technology to reduce and improve our current situation. Health IT encompasses a broad array of new technologies designed to manage and share health-related information. When properly implemented, these systems can help coordinate patient care, reduce medical errors, and improve administrative efficiency. Therefore, implementing a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) will help the National Health Information Network (NHIN) achieve their goals in improving quality of care for the citizens of the United States. Thus, in order for the health IT to deliver on its promise, several obstacles must be overcome.

“The Bitter Pill: Why medical bills are killing us” written by Steven Brill delves into the question as to why medical bills are so high. As Brill begins his research he analyzed bills from hospitals, doctors, and drug companies. Additionally, he interviewed doctors, Medicare and insurance administrators, and gathered patient stories across the nation. He found that the United States spent more money on healthcare than any other developed countries, he stated “We may be shocked at the $60 billion price tag for cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy, [however], we spent almost that much last week on healthcare” (Brill 2013). He also noted “yet in every measurable way, the results our healthcare system produces are no better and often worse than the outcomes in those countries” (Brill 2013). From the charts and graphs that Brill provided shows that the sixty percent of personal bankruptcy filings per year are related to medical bills. Life expectancy in the United States is the lowest amongst the countries that spend most on healthcare, our infant mortality rank is fiftieth in the world, and that one pill cost as much as seven pills in other developed countries such as France. Brill found that in many similar cases, like that ones he presented in the article, Medicare would have at least paid for a small portion of the bill. However, those who don’t qualify for Medicaid and don’t have insurance are often asked to pay excessive prices.

Another reason for the rising cost of healthcare is the cost of physician care, according to the American Hospital Association “the cost of physician care, both to insurance and patients, has risen 1.3% during the past year.” Because of this increase doctors are put in a corner, they are already locked into an agreement with the insurance companies and do not have much ‘wiggle’ room to negotiate fees and rates. So because of this the patients and consumers are forced to pay a much larger sum. Since there are higher costs and the insurers will not cover them, they are distributes to the customers through higher deductibles, co-insurance, and

When it comes to health care, cost is one of the biggest problems. Something needs to be done in order to make it possible for patients, families, and businesses to be able to afford health care. US does not always spend health care dollars in the most productive way. The cost of cancer treatments alone can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the only way to pay for that is to raise the cost of the insurance to the patients. Cost is defined as the “price” of healthcare. The “price” or cost can come from various places such as, the physician’s bill, the cost of prescriptions, as well as what the employers pay to cover their employees. The cost of treatments, emergency room visits, medicines, the cost of newest technology and etc. is what is making our increase in cost rapidly. The rising costs leads to becoming a financial burden to families, even the ones that have health insurance, which can typically result in individuals not receiving the health services that they need.

In healthcare system the highest quality medical care means” the greatest benefit to patients at the lowest possible cost” (Burke & Ryan, 2014, p. 3). “The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines quality health care as doing the right thing for the right patient, at the right time, in the right way to achieve the best possible results” (NCQA, p. 3) According to American college of physicians, the single most reason for the health care cost is higher healthcare spending. There are several factors involved in the high health care cost such as inappropriate use of technologies, lack of patient centered care, overuse of the reimbursement, excessive price for health care facilities, increased organizational cost, and health accountability are some of the reasons for increased health care cost. In order to decrease the cost, the available health resources be used judiciously and equitably. Understanding these factors and identifying the potential factors of health care costs assists in providing quality and effective services and thus improves the health outcomes (ACP, 2009).

Frech cited several keys to the high costs here including marketing by pharmaceutical companies; the incredible number (around 20 percent) of the people who work in the medical field but never come into contact with any patient and the lack of wellness programs and poor lifestyle

The health care system is one of the largest industries in the nation. It employs nearly twelve and a half million people. Even though this many people are employed by health care systems, there is little to no competition between the many different systems. This results in the cost being whatever the system wants. People who are ill or

Another factor that has contributed to the over-utilization and increased treatment charges is the fact that providers set the prices for services. Patients were free to seek any type of healthcare services that they thought they required for their well-being, while providers set the costs for each service that was billed to indemnity insurance companies (Shi & Singh, 2015). Insurance companies had little control on the types of services that the patient received and prices billed for each service. The fee-for-service model encourages excessive and unwarranted procedures and offers no incentives to utilize economical services

Healthcare in America is a very complex system. It is very different from what it used to be. It is moving from what was considered an indemnity type of care plan into a more managed care plan. There are a lot of factors that has influenced the fast growing system. Factors that are considered a contributing to this is the growth in the US population, people are living longer than before. An increase in technology, easier access to information. There is an alarming growth rate in the allied healthcare professionals. The cost and dependence on drugs and the pharmaceutical cost has increased. The rising cost of individual and family healthcare insurance. Because of the rising cost of malpractice insurance, case settlement and jury awards.

Decreasing healthcare “cost” has been repeatedly debated for decades now. Despite tremendous efforts to reduce cost, the US Healthcare System is still struggling to deliver an effective and affordable level of care. Not only the cost of healthcare is higher in the U.S., there is also much waste due to unnecessary laboratory, radiology & other investigations, unwanted hospitalizations, procedures, longer hospital stay, preventable emergency room visits, and a lot of medications waste, that costs the U.S. $750 billion annually according to IOM in 2012 (Glicksman E. , 2015).

Advances in technology have led to increased health care cost. An MRI machine can be so advanced today that it can costs around $8,000 just to have an MRI. Although it is wonderful that we are making so many advances in medical technology, it comes with a price. Providers are also forced to increase their rates due to the rising of costs of well, everything. This means that Medicare/Medicaid must now pay providers more per visit. These costs continue to increase year after year. With the Affordable Care Act, providers had to increase cost by rather large amounts.

This results in people not being able to receive the necessary healthcare, especially since majority of tests done a person are not needed. Many of the times when doctors order tests to be run, they are aware that the test is unnecessary but they need to be sure to cover themselves in the unfortunate case of something happening. Other people are also pressuring doctors in running tests to increase their RVU, unit of billable activity per hour. If a doctors RVU is not high enough they are pressured into running more tests and seeing more patients, rather than actually helping the patient. The drug industry only amounts to approximately 12 percent of the total cost of healthcare in America. The total sales of the top five drug companies in 2005 were 222 billion dollars. Drug companies state that the reason their products are so expensive is so they can fund the research and development of the drugs; however, only 32 billion dollars were spent on research and development, 71 billion dollars on marketing, and 39 billion dollars in profit. The facts listed above are all contributing factors as to why healthcare is so expensive, but the most significant reason healthcare is expensive is due to the cost of the paperwork.

Health care costs are high for multiple reasons. Inefficiency is happening because doctors lack resources that inform them about their patients’ past tests and prescriptions. This costs time and money. According to Furchtgott-Roth (2009), former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, ten cents of every dollar paid to the doctor goes to his or her malpractice insurance. These rates are so high because there is no cap on the amount of money a doctor can be sued. Doctors even fear being sued for doing “too little” in the patients’ eyes. Because of this, doctors end up running unnecessary tests and prescribing unneeded drugs. Medical News Today acerbates that health care is so expensive because we spend $147 billion per year on problems that

Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, abbreviated as “HCUP,” includes the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States (HCUP). The HCUP and AHRQ described (HCUP) as, “…Is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through federal-state-industry partnerships…HCUP databases bring together the data collection efforts of state data organizations, hospital associations, private data organizations, and the federal government to create a national information resource of encounter-level information beginning in 1988. Databases enable research on a broad range of health policy issues, including cost and quality of health services, medical practice patterns, access to health services, medical practice