Spiraling Health Care Costs: What you need to know

US Citizens pay more than 1.5 trillion dollars for medical care each year and costs associated with all manner of health care, such as prescription drugs, continue to skyrocket. While a few of the reasons behind this booming bill are comprehensible, US Citizens caught in a cash crunch might be amazed to hear some of the lesser-known reasons for high health care costs.

The phrase health care can conjure up images of doctors, nurses and hospitals, but the reality is that the medical field is a business and a remorseless one at that. Individual practitioners, researchers and participants may have tremendous aims and a true need to serve people, but the structure of the US health care system guarantees profit is the first issue of importance.

Here is some information that could help explain the high costs of American health care:

Pharmaceutical research and development companies spend approximately twenty billion dollars each year on R&D, and about a similar sum on advertising and self-promotional marketing activities.

Also, drug companies have as many sales people as there are doctors in america. One of the responsibilities of this sales force is to convince doctors to attend pharmaceutical company-sponsored seminars where medicines are showcased.

According to some economic experts, the acquisition of new technology is responsible for more than fifty percent of new health care spending over the last 3 years.

Much of the hard cash Americans pay for health care finds its way into the increasing profits on health care-related merchandise and services such as the supply of medical insurance. Even higher costs have been forecast for the future, especially for prescription drugs.

For many Americans who are unable to afford the health care they need, rising costs represent an ever-increasing barrier to medical services and merchandise. The financial burden is also experienced on the greater national scale with about 15 percent of gross domestic product going towards health care costs. That is equal to approximately one fourth of the yearly federal budget.

Relatively, Canada invests in the area of 10 percent of its GDP on its public health care program. Unlike the USA, Canadas health care program is universally available to all citizens and permanent residents without cost. Other countries, such as Germany, where there is a public/private delivery system model for health care, manage to serve their populations for even less whilst still having better longevity than Americans. This proves that the quality of health care does not increase proportionally with the amount of money spent to attain it.

While many Canadians supplement their overall health care with added insurance to the cost of medication and perks such as semi-private or private hospital rooms, health care insurance is much more of a necessity in the United States. Unfortunately, costs have been spiraling dramatically, making health care insurance inaccessible for many Americans. Presently, more than forty million Americans don't receive any variety of health care benefit.

For employers, providing health care insurance for their workforce is also becoming increasingly expensive, with increases dramatically outpacing inflation rates. Some years, the difference is four or six fold. Even if premiums were to remain static, providing health care insurance to workers still costs several thousand dollars per worker. For smaller companies, or for the ones that employ a large number of people, these costs can be prohibitive.

Steps to trim down health care costs are always under consideration, though many are not popular options. Suggestions that have been put forward by various sources have included:

Increased drug awareness and education. Millions could be saved if health care insurance covered only generic variations of drugs that have been proven just as effective as their more expensive brand name counterparts.

Stop expensive treatment alternatives will only add a short period of time to a patients life, especially if it will not be quality time (i.e. patient is in a coma).

Promote preventative care such as smart lifestyle alternatives, correct nutrition and exercise.

Examine ways to control drug advertising to consumers. There is supposition that advertising has led to prescriptions of non-necessary drugs.

Limit malpractice liability so doctors and medical professionals do not feel coerced to cover themselves by ordering unneeded tests to confirm conditions they already know to be present.