Over 144k: A Case Study

With the health care system the way it was structured it seemed, as the only way a person could get adequate health care is if you either did not get sick or made enough money to pay the costly medical bills if you did constantly visit the doctor. The number one reason for families in America to fall into bankruptcy was noted as being medical bills and cost, quite frankly any person facing a potential life threatening illness is going to seek medical help and is not going to worry about the cost if it means life or death. An when you are living with either no insurance of your condition causes you to be bumped from your insurance provider because you’ve become to expensive for them seems almost

“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.

There are many problems with healthcare in America today. One of them including the astronomical cost. According to CDC.ORG in 2007 the average person spends seven thousand four hundred dollars per year on health care alone. This rise in healthcare is extremely detrimental for families, seniors, and people of all ages. With such a high cost of insurance people are forced to make hard choices in

The lack of health insurance reached began to become a serious issue in the mid-1990’s reaching a crisis level in the 2000’s. Individuals without insurance turned to emergency rooms across the country to obtain care routine care, turning emergency departments into primary care facilities. In many instances, people who presented at emergency rooms for treatment could not be turned away due to various health and safety regulations; therefore, patients were seen without the ability to pay often leaving the hospitals with millions of dollars in uncollectable debt, subsequently leading to the insolvency of hundreds of hospitals across the United States.

Medical Debt Collection starts when medical services are rendered, whether it’s by choice or an emergency. A serious illness or even a relatively brief stay in a hospital is apt to leave you with a pile of medical bills that you cannot afford to pay, even if you have health insurance(Reed and Detweiler,2015). After

According to Newsweek, the University Medical Center on average has about $100,000 dollars a month in unpaid doctor’s visits and operations and special procedures; this burden gets passed on to the County taxpayer (Johnson). Unpaid bills occur due to people taken to the hospital and either do not have, or have very poor health insurance. The current process is not fair to anyone, whether one has no health insurance or one who has paid for it. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise referred to as Obamacare, signed into law on March 23, 2010, this requires all Americans to purchase health insurance. The purchase of this care is purchased either individually or through the government market place. The act will lower

In Debt with Health Insurance More than 60 percent of personal bankruptcies in the United States are caused by medical bills. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, 75 percent of them involved individuals that have health insurance. When an individual gets sick in this country their first thought is usually ways they can avoiding going to the doctor so they do not have to try and pay for their visit regardless of if they are insured or not. Even now after the Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare) has been installed, many Americans are left without coverage. ObamaCare is mainly for those individuals without health insurance, therefore, if you are uninsured you must get insurance or pay a monthly tax to still get coverage. With that being said many people are still left without quality coverage or at risk of getting taxed if they were to lose their job. What many people do not realize is that insurance companies have now raised their prices or cancelled plans due to this new Act still making it difficult for some to get insurance. America is still lacking in healthcare compared to many countries around the world. In other countries their government pays for most of the healthcare costs and the system is almost completely universal. The way the United States government distributes our money is not always in the citizens’ best interest and should be revised leaving more benefits for the people of this country. The American Health Care plan recently adopted

Social problems exist all around us, one that seems to be quite prevalent right now is the Affordable Care Act is also known as ACA or more commonly known as Obama Care, which is a derogatory term meant to lessen or negate the President who founded it. There are

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

America is known for democracy, freedom, and the American Dream. American citizens have the right to free speech, free press, the right to bear arms, and the right to religious freedom to name a few. The Declaration of Independence states that

Inflated billing. This is more common in hospital settings. However, it can still happen at the practice level. A patient goes in for surgery to correct his badly broken ankle. His insurance company receives a bill that is bloated with overcharges. Medical screws costing $2000 each for example. This kind of mistake is generally not so

People need to be more aware of the things that they are engaging in and know what it is that they are getting and paying for. One of the cheapest ways to cut down on health care spending is if people change their lifestyles by eating healthier, exercising more daily, weekly or monthly than they were doing before and this could make the biggest impact for all of us. This will defiantly cut out unnecessary trips to the doctor or the hospital. Parents need to also educate their children to be healthier and watch what they eat and

Often, curable diseases or conditions are not diagnosed in the early stages and are allowed to become life threatening before care is sought. Patients are then forced to undergo extensive and costly treatments which may be too late to render any relief and often result in a premature loss of life. The uninsured or underinsured patients or families are then left with staggering medical bills to pay. Reports indicate that up to 60% of all bankruptcies are the direct result of outstanding medical related debt.

19 April 2011 What can be done to help health care cost? The main cause for the healthcare reform bill is the rising cost of health insurance for the American citizens. From the 1960s to the 1980s healthcare spending went from $28 billion to $255 billion. By the beginning of 2000, healthcare spending increased to $1.4 trillion. The United States economy has slowly declined due to several factors, the cost of health care is one. Presidents, state representatives, hospital and insurance executives, and economists have tried to attack this huge deficit. There are several things that can be done in order to reduce rapidly increasing health care spending. Some actions that could benefit the United States economy is the stop of wasteful

The Rising Cost of Healthcare There is no doubt that healthcare cost are rising out of control. No one likes the increases, but it is far more understandable when considering all the reasons for these increases. American people look at their