Spiraling Health Care Costs: What you should know

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

The phrase health care can invoke images of doctors, nurses and hospitals, but the reality is that the medical field is an industry and a ruthless one at that. Individual practitioners, researchers and participants may have wonderful aims and a true desire to aid people, but the structure of the US health care system ensures profit is the highest issue of importance.

Here is some information that might help explain the escalating costs of U.S. health care:

Pharmaceutical research and development companies spend roughly $20 billion each year on Research and development, and around a similar amount on advertising and self-promotional merchandising activities.

Also, drug companies have as many sales people as there are doctors in the U S. One of the responsibilities of these sales teams is to convince doctors to attend their company-sponsored seminars where medicines are showcased.

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

Much of the money US Citizens pay for health care finds its way into the rising profits on health care-related products and services such as the provision of medical insurance. Even greater costs have been forseen for the future, especially for prescription drugs.

For numerous North Americans who are unable to afford the health care they need, spiraling costs represent an ever-increasing block to medical services and products. The fiscal effect is also felt on the larger national scale with about fifteen percent of gross domestic product going toward health care costs. That is equal to close to a quarter of the yearly federal budget.

Comparatively, Canada invests about ten percent of its Gross domestic product 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, in which 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 caliber of health care does not rise proportionally with the amount of money spent to achieve it.

While many Canadians supplement their universal health care with extra insurance to the cost of medication and benefits 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 out of reach for many Americans. Currently, more than forty million Americans don't receive any variety of health care benefit.

For employers, providing health care insurance for workers 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 remain static, providing health care insurance to their workforce still costs several thousand dollars per worker. For smaller companies, or for those that employ a large number of people, these costs can be prohibitive.

Steps to reduce 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 training. Millions could be saved if health care insurance covered only generic variants of drugs that have been proven just as effective as their more expensive brand name counterparts.

Stop expensive treatment choices 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).

Encourage preventative care such as smart lifestyle choices, proper nutrition and exercise.

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

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