The Effects Of Preventative Care On The Country 's Large Healthcare Expenditure

It is no secret that the cost of American healthcare is becoming increasingly more expensive. However, the issue of the rising cost of healthcare and its severity needs to be recognized as a major problem. Health prices are steadily increasing in the United States, and there is no sign of it stopping. Since 1970, spending on American health care has grown 9.8%, which is a rate that is growing faster than the economy (“New Technology”.) Furthermore, health insurance premiums are also increasing at a rate five times faster than American salaries, which makes it difficult for families to afford health care coverage (Zuckerman 28). Therefore, it has become an obligation to address why the cost of American health care is soaring and to seek out a solution to lower the cost. Many would jump to the conclusion that the United States simply charges too much for their medical services, but there are deeper influences that need to be analyzed. The causes of the rising cost of health care are people not using preventive health care, the development of modern technology, and the treatments being overprescribed. A possible solution is to have preventive health care services available in clinics of low-income areas.

More and more people with medical insurance are relying on the health care system as new technologies and treatments become available. This leads to a grater number of claims for payment by insurance companies, the costs of which are passed back to health care consumers. The baby-boom generation is entering its peak health-care using period. Over eighty million Americans will turn 50 in the next 10 years. The cost of providing heath care for these individuals will be staggering

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) had mame dramatic changes in the field of the health care system, especially in Medicare, that will seriously take effect in American seniors. Indeed, much of the health law’s new spending is financed by spending reductions in the Medicare program. In addition to the provider payment reductions, Obamacare significantly reduces payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by an estimated $156 billion from 2013 to 2022.( Elmendorf, letter to Speaker Boehner). About 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA plans, a system of regulated and private plans competing against each other as an alternative to traditional Medicare. MA plans are attractive to beneficiaries because they offer more generous and comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare by capping out-of-pocket costs and offering drug coverage to a rasonable

Americans have been faced with a new health care reform act known as Affordable Care Act initiated in 2010. Why was it so important for this nation to reform is health care system? How are we sure the ACA is improving our system for the American people? For many years, the health care industry has left many Americans uninsured. With health care costs on the rise and very few able to afford costs, and the quality of care in underserved areas not what it should be has left this nation largely unhealthy. Several landmark reports, including the Center for Disease Control factsheets and the Healthy People 2020 have astounding statistics confirming these alarming rates and clearly identifying the need for reform. The Affordable Care Act is the starting foundation for Americans to start investing in their own promotion of wellness and disease prevention. By choosing healthier lifestyle changes, individuals can make a difference which in turn will improve our nation’s overall health for the better.

The U.S. health care system faces challenges that indicate that the people urgently need to be reform. Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. To do otherwise casts doubt on the feasibility and sustainability of coverage expansions and also ensures that our current health care system will continue to have large gaps even for those with access to insurance coverage.

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

Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order

As previously illustrated, there are both advantages and disadvantages of Medicaid. However, being a beneficiary of Medicaid increases access to health care. As a result of the program, adults were 70% more likely to have a regular place of care, “55% more likely to have a regular doctor than the adults who did not gain coverage;” and the utilization of preventative services have increased (Garfield & Paradise, 2013). Furthermore, access to speciality care such as physical therapy; podiatry and hospice remain unattainable. In a multiple city audit, researchers found that only 34% of Medicaid beneficiaries were able to “secure an appointment for urgent” specialist care, compared to 64% of those privately

In the current U.S. system the free market prevails and companies, in this case, major insurance providers “compete” for business. This competitive business approach should in theory drive costs down. For some reason, however, an argument can be made that it has produced the opposite result in profiteering. The nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealth, boasted over a 10 percent revenue increase in 2013 according to Forbes (2013). Health insurance affordability contributes to the disparity in access to health care, as evidenced by the fact that there are millions that are still uncovered. A greater majority of certain minorities lack both health insurance and the financial resource to seek out either health care or insurance. While insurance companies reap huge profits the percent of private sector companies offering health insurance has dropped to less than 50 percent (Kaiser, 2013). There is decidedly a lack of coordination of care for this at risk population as well, since treatment is rendered sporadically and with continuously changing providers. The last major challenge is that of improving the quality of health care. According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), an estimated 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stay and an additional 13.5 percent experienced a temporary

This article discusses about the impact of Medicare coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2011, the Medicare coverage was expanded to fully cover preventive care visits; the annual wellness visit for the Medicare beneficiaries (Chung et al., 2015). The wide range of preventive services such as a review of the patient’s medical and family history; the measurement and recording of biometrics such as blood pressure and body-mass index; screening for cognitive impairment, depression, functional ability, and level of safety; planning end-of-life care; and education, counseling, and referrals for other personalized preventive services are covered under the annual wellness visit. Chung and colleagues conducted a study to determine the use of preventive care visits among older adults, who live in the Northern California. They looked at the data from 2007 through 2013, to assess the utilization of preventive services before and after the expansion among the Medicare fee-for service; also known as Medicare Part B enrollees. In addition, the usage among Medicare Part B enrollees were compared with the Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) plan; also known as Medicare Advantage and private insurance.

Uninsured people are both less likely than those with coverage to use any health services in a given year and have lower expenditures for services on average (Taylor et al., 2001). As earlier Committee reports demonstrated, this lower level of utilization is the source of one hidden cost of uninsurance—higher morbidity and mortality as a result of using fewer and less appropriate health care services. The Committee does not mean to imply by this comparison, however, that all of the additional use of services by those with coverage is effective and appropriate, but simply that the greater amounts of services used by insured populations are associated with and contribute to their better health outcomes, relative to those of uninsured populations.

Due to the upcoming presidential election, the two major political parties, and their candidates, have been focusing on the primary problems that the nation will face. Chief among those problems is the future of Medicare, the national health-insurance plan. Medicare was enacted in 1965, under the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, in order to provide health insurance for retired citizens and the disabled (Ryan). The Medicare program covers most people aged 65 or older, as well as handicapped people who enroll in the program, and consists of two health plans: a hospital insurance plan (part A) and a medical insurance plan (part B) (Marmor 22). Before Medicare, many Americans didn't have health

The introduction and implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act has put the insurance industry and healthcare costs under the public microscope. As politicans, insurance executives, doctors and consumers scutinize every cost associated with healthcare, Preventive Health Care has become a topic of debate. Preventive health care saves lives and contribute to a better quality of life by diagnosing medical conditions at early more treatable stages. This paper examines the effectiveness of preventive healthcare in containment of health care costs and overall health benefit of consumers. After a brief introduction to preventive health care, the paper provides evidence of prevention activities that generate significant cost saving to

“The United States spends a larger share of its gross domestic product (GPD) on health care than any other major industrialized country” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2002). However, American’s health is not better than that of citizens of comparable countries. Health care in the U.S. is expensive for many reasons; newer technology, lack of standardized health plans, overuse of services, and highly paid medical professionals are a few. The identified concepts that would help reduce the cost of health care while improving population health. Changing the face of medicine in America from curative to preventative would reduce the cost of care in the long term. According to the CDC, the most expensive care is hospital care at 31% of the total health care expenditure. Therefore, creating better home health programs help to shorten hospital stays and reduce the risk of readmission for chronic illnesses or rehabilitation, which will lower overall cost of care. Continuing to promote coordinated care through evidence based medicine when treating and discharging patients from the hospital will reduce expensive hospital readmissions and lessen wasteful spending for double treatment or testing (The Commonwealth Fund). The U.S. Government has seen the need for change in order to reduce overall expenditure and provide health care to all citizens. Enaction of the ACA is an attempt to lift the burden of issues facing American healthcare. However, the ACA is not enough to fix the

After four decades of failure to enact a universal healthcare program, advocates decided to refine their approach in the 1950s, and the strategy that ultimately led to the passage of Medicare and Medicaid was formulated. Wilbur Cohen and I.S. Falk recognized that a health insurance plan focused on Social Security beneficiaries would be much easier to sell than a plan for all Americans. By limiting its benefits to the elderly, Medicare could be portrayed as a program for people who met two important criteria: they had greater need for healthcare coverage and they were especially deserving of public assistance. Because of their age, seniors have relatively high medical costs--when Medicare was passed, average healthcare expenses for people sixty-five or older were twice the average expenses for younger persons. (Orentlicher, D. (2012).