Rising Health Care Costs: What you have to know

US Citizens pay more than 1.5 trillion dollars for medical care every year and costs associated with all manner of health care, such as prescription drugs, continue to accelerate. While some of the reasons behind this booming bill are understandable, United States Citizens caught in a cash crunch may be amazed to hear a few of the lesser-known causes of escalating health care costs.

The words health care may conjure up images of doctors, nurses and hospitals, but the reality is that the medical field is a business and a pitiless one at that. Individual practitioners, researchers and participants may have tremendous aims and a genuine desire to help people, but the structure of the U.S. health care system ensures profit is the highest issue of importance.

Here is some information that could help explain the soaring costs of US health care:

Pharmaceutic research and development companies spend roughly twenty billion dollars every year on Research and development, and roughly a similar sum on advertising and self-promotional merchandising activities.

Also, drug companies have as many sales persons as there are doctors in the U.S.. One of the duties of this sales force is to convince doctors to attend their company-sponsored seminars where drugs are showcased.

According to some economic experts, the purchase of up to date technology is responsible for more than fifty percent of new health care outlay over the last three years.

Much of the money North Americans pay for health care finds its way into the rising profits on health care-related merchandise and services such as the provision of medical insurance. Even greater costs have been envisaged for the future, particularly for prescription drugs.

For numerous United States Citizens who are unable to afford the health care they need, rising costs typify an ever-increasing block to medical services and products. The fiscal burden is also felt on the greater national scale with about fifteen percent of gross domestic product going towards health care costs. That is equal to roughly one quarter of the annual federal budget.

Relatively, Canada invests around ten percent of its GDP on its public health care program. Unlike the U.S., Canadas health care program is universally available to all citizens and permanent residents without cost. Other countries, such as Germany, in which there is a public/private delivery system model for health care, manage to serve their citizens for even less whilst still having greater longevity than United States Citizens. This proves that the caliber of health care does not increase proportionately with the amount of money spent to achieve 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 rising dramatically, making health care insurance inaccessible for many Americans. Currently, more than forty million Americans don't receive any kind of health care benefit.

For employers, offering health care insurance for employees is also becoming more expensive, with increases dramatically outpacing inflation rates. Some years, the difference is four or six fold. Even if premiums were to stay unchanging, offering health care insurance to their workforce still costs several thousand dollars per worker. For smaller companies, or for those who employ a large number of people, these costs can be prohibitive.

Measures to reduce health care costs are always under consideration, though many are not popular choices. Suggestions that have been raised by various sources have included:

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

Terminate expensive treatment alternatives will only add a short amount 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 choices, correct nutrition and exercise.

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

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