Picture From: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/childrens-hospital/giving.aspx
Healthcare in the United states is infamous for being ridiculously expensive and has been the center of discussion in the last election. The United States spends five times more on healthcare than on their military (Peterson, 2015). Every year the United States spends 3.2 trillion dollars on health care, this number alone would rank as the world’s 5th largest national GDP right after Germany at 3.4 trillion (World Bank, n.d.). The healthcare per capita spending is around $10,000 compared to a GDP per capita of $57,466 (World Bank, n.d.). So why is healthcare so pricey in the U.S. despite being ranked the 37th most efficient in the world by the World Health Organization?
Overpriced drugs set by private companies
Private companies in the U.S. have the right to set their own medicine prices and is not controlled by the congress. The congress may only hold occasional hearing to put pressure on drug makers (Kocher & Roberts, 2016) while drug prices rise way faster than inflation. The only exception to this is Veteran Affairs and Medicaid (Hiltzik, 2017).
Picture From: http://www.sgrrmc.com/Hospital/default.aspx
Administrative cost
Due to the complicated billing system of healthcare in the U.S. a lot of staffing is required to figure out the different insurance types such as copays, co-insurance and differing deductibles as opposed to the single-payer system in Canada (Epstein, 2015).
Use of higher cost specialist doctors
Patients are more often referred to specialist doctors that cost more than primary care doctors in the America (Gottfried, 2010). Whereas in other countries patients are more likely to visit a primary care doctor who would be qualified enough to address the issue but with a lower cost.
Picture From: https://www.socialworkhelper.com/2016/11/10/comparing-public-healthcare-us-europe/
The current administration has been working on amending the American Healthcare Act to replace the Affordable Healthcare Act enacted by Obama. The new bill is expected to increase medical costs even further for older, poorer people and is estimated to throw 23 million people off Medicaid over the next ten years while saving 1% of governmental spending (Adamczyk & O’Brien, 2017). Personally, I think that the access to free or affordable healthcare is a basic right just like the right to express ourselves and the right to receive primary education. A single-payer governmental run healthcare system will not only save a lot of money for the average citizen but also promote a more equal and fair distribution of resources. The current healthcare system in the U.S. is strictly set up for the interest of private corporations and rich individuals who can afford to pay for their specialized treatment. It is unlikely to see any big changes coming to the U.S. healthcare system so the best bet is to stay healthy and wealthy.
Word Count: 447
Work cited
Adamczyk, A., & O’Brien, E. (2017, May 04). AHCA: What to Know About New Republican Health Care Bill | Money. Retrieved September 25, 2017, from http://time.com/money/4766063/ahca-new-republican-health-care-bill/
Epstein, L. (2015, August 06). 6 Reasons Healthcare Is So Expensive in the U.S. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/080615/6-reasons-healthcare-so-expensive-us.asp
Gottfried, D. D. (2010, May 10). Too Many Doctors, But Too Few Primary Care Ones. Retrieved September 25, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dennis-gottfried/too-many-doctors-but-too_b_568703.html
Hiltzik, M. (2017, January 11). Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices is a popular solution to healthcare costs. But it may not work. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-medicaire-negotiate-20170111-story.html
Kocher, B., & Roberts, B. (2016, December 20). Why Drug Costs Will Keep Rising in 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2016/12/19/healthcare-drug-costs-2017-predictions/
Peterson, P. G. (2015, February 04). U.S. Defense Spending Compared to Other Countries. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0053_defense-comparison
World Bank National Accounts Data. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2017, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?year_high_desc=true
World Bank. (n.d.). GDP per capita (current US$). Retrieved September 25, 2017, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=US
World Health Organization’s Ranking of the World’s Health Systems. (n.d.). Retrieved September 25, 2017, from http://thepatientfactor.com/canadian-health-care-information/world-health-organizations-ranking-of-the-worlds-health-systems/