National Healthcare Spending in the United States: An Evaluation

“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.

3n. Why has out of pocket spending been trending up over the last 20 years? Kelton opines that there has been such a forceful movement away from employer based insurance that the employer based system will collapse. (Kelton & CFEPS, 2007, para. 38) For the employers that

The single most important impetus for healthcare reform throughout recent history has been rising costs (Sultz, 2006). In the book called The healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care, Reid wrote that the nation’s health care system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust. Among the world’s developed nations, the US ranks near the bottom for healthcare access and quality. However, the US ranks at the top for health expenditure as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and average of $7,400 per person (Reid, 2010). Therefore, Americans are spending

The U.S. has experienced a dramatic change over the last decade. Health costs have continued to rise and have become unreasonable. The spending of health care costs has affected the citizens of the U.S. as well as health care facilities negatively. Americans are not capable of paying for health expenses on their own. There are some reasonable options that have been suggested as a solution to this issue, but have not been successful. For example, aids such as health insurance and Medicaid help with a certain percentage of the overall cost, but people are still left to pay for health insurance premiums and the remaining expenses that the insurance does not cover. Also, the government has contributed a large amount of money towards healthcare supplies such as prescription drugs, but there are some consequences such as the future researching for drugs and other cures for illnesses being hindered. Although relying on the government to contribute to rising health costs seems like the best solution, there are consequences which causes a drastic effect on Americans and future research on cures for diseases.

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.

According to National Health Expenditure data_____year_______, the growth in premiums tracked directly with the underlying cost of medical care from 2000-2010 — a trend that has been consistent for

The national health care spending in the United States has been growing faster than the national economy for many years, yet many United States citizens are without sufficient health care. Not only is it representing a challenge not only for the government’s two major health insurance programs (Medicare and Medicaid), but with the private sector insurance also. As health care spending rises for the nation’s economic production in the future, United States citizen may/will be faced with difficult choices between health care and other priorities to their everyday living. Nevertheless, an assortment of data suggests that opportunities exist to limit health care

In the last two decades, there have been countless debates on the need to reform the United States of American health care system. The reform is to enable a more comprehensive system that will address pressing issues such as the growing number of uninsured American. The USA is one of the leading countries when in to healthcare and its systems. It is also the country with the most spending when it comes to healthcare. According to an article published in the commonwealth fund, the United States health care system is found to be the most expensive in the world, but it also shows the U.S. underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014).

In 2012, the Medicaid spending grew over 2% and the total healthcare spending was around $416 billion dollars. By the end of 2014, the healthcare spending for Medicaid is projected to be over 12%. This brings the enrollment total to increase by over eight million dollars. Depending of the individual’s finances dictates the type of insurance that they possess. Some people can afford private health insurance. The private health insurance is

Healthcare costs in the United States have increased dramatically over the last few decades compared to healthcare cost in other countries. In return, this has caused many issues like political reevaluation of our health care system, which involves funding and performance. Furthermore, the reasons for the high health care costs includes administrative costs of running the health care system sine about one quarter of health care costs are associated with administration. Additionally, the United States spends a large amount of money on drugs, professionals and required medical equipment to keep up with patient in need of health care. Moreover, high health care costs are a result of lack of competitive free markets, rapid diffusion of new technologies,

The United States' health care industry has gone through more changes in the past ten years than any other business in modern times. Health care spending has grown exponentially over the past half-century. But for 2014-24, health spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.8 percent per year.1 Several factors will contribute to this growth. The population in the United States is increasingly getting older, and it is the elderly that require the most medical care. Also, medical technology has made tremendous strides during this time, and with increased technology comes an increased price tag. Rising medical costs first became an issue during the Nixon administration, and eventually

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

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

The healthcare system plays a key role in the economic stability of our country, as every year trillions are spent in attempt to combat disease and health issues that plaque humanity. As it makes up a significant amount of the expenditures in the economy, so the costs associated with health care of those in pain from illness and injury, including lost productivity, increased need of assistance in living and also the cost of death in some cases, is important to the economic stability and over all standard of living in our country. The key to economic prosperity is balancing the need for care with the costs of illness to keep as many people healthy and well without breaking the bank of collective society. The costs of healthcare have been increasingly problematic in recent years with so many issues surrounding the current system. With the “total health care spending in the United States expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970, meaning that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021” (Aetna). With this in mind it is apparent that as we look at the trillion-dollar industry of the medical community it seems that it needs to be a major focus of our nation as a whole and with the many issues come many creative solutions. First let us analyze the reasons behind the current cost and the major problems facing this industry and than discus what

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, healthcare spending in the United State grew 3.6 percent in 2013, totaling $2.9 trillion; and accounting for 17.4 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product . In an effort to combat rising costs, broaden access to healthcare, and improve the quality of care, several laws and