preview

The Cost Shifting Of 1965 Private Insurance

Good Essays

If you look anywhere in the world, in any type of business model, you will most likely see some kind of cost shifting. How much cost shifting is multifactorial, but is most likely present in some way. We saw it in retail as the cost of fuel rose to over $5 per gallon, the trucking companies had to charge more to the manufacturers to cover the increase in fuel, which then the manufacturers passed that increased cost onto the individual stores which in turn passed that increase cost onto the customers which were buying the goods. This is a little different in healthcare, however the general idea is the same.
Cost shifting has been in medicine since health insurance first began, or maybe even before that. Whenever there is a loss of money due to charitable/free care there has probably always been a shift in cost to cover the “loss”. Prior to 1965 private insurance was really the only widely available means of payment for health care. This was also mainly for middle class working individuals and their families. The other individuals (elderly, unemployed, and the poor) that needed health care did not have the luxury of having insurance, and so their care was either given on charity, on some of the limited public programs or by their own means. The hospitals or clinics that would render the medical care to these individuals for little or no reimbursement, would then shift that financial loss onto the private insurance group with increase costs to their medical care. In the year

Get Access