Health care costs in the United States are tremendously high and continue to grow each year. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reached 3.8 trillion in 2019, with a 5.4% average annual rate it is expected to reach 6.2 trillion by 2028. (Smith, 2021). There are many contributing factors for rising costs which goes to show the complication and difficulty that many citizens suffer through due to these high costs.
Taking complications and difficulty into consideration leads me to my first example of increased costs, much of the population does not have adequate information provided about medical care and the various costs. Unfortunately, there isn’t a uniform display of information or fast way to understand types and costs of treatment. Releasing information regarding the effectiveness of treatment is delayed and the process of acceptance and implementation of change is often lengthy.
Another struggle for many individuals with insurance is that most do not choose their own plans. According to data from KFF, roughly 49% of the American population gets insurance through their employer (Smith, 2021). Half of our population are limited in what insurance they can select, and often time these plans are expensive with high deductibles.
Considering high deductibles and costs, is the redundancy of testing and overtreatment. Many medical providers receive funds for services, so the more services, the more money that facility receives. This increases competition between providers which ultimately increases costs as the “race” continues. All of the redundancy of testing is the result of an unintegrated medical system. Our system does not allow for management, providers, and support teams to communicate fluently or at all about patient care making repetitive services and unnecessary spending.
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