Health care costs are an issue to a country’s economy as the costs tend to go higher than the consumer price index in a year in any country. Therefore, to succeed in cost control the measure of growth in healthcare spending at par with that of the nation’s Growth Domestic Product.
The causes of rising healthcare costs are found to be;
Hospital cost increases/consolidation
The rising hospital prices are drivers of the rising health care costs and this tends to be more on the privately insured individuals. The major cause for this rise in hospital price is the consolidation of the hospital industry. The prices for the categories of health care that rose include: hospital inpatients/stays, outpatient services, and all surgical procedure services.
Provider prices
The relative costs that health care providers charge are high this coupled with increased access to medical technology and obesity is the key driver to increased costs. The medical practitioners, physicians and clinical service costs increase as they demand much higher pay for the services offered.
Medical technology
The need for new and advanced medical technology in treatment of chronic diseases and diagnosis of ailments early in time pushes the costs of medical services to a much greater extent than it is. The introduction of new medical technology for instance; in America it increases costs by about 38 percent and 65 percent and it does so by providing alternative high cost efficient equipment to low cost options to patients as they offer an expanded range of treatment.
Waste/ Paying for volume over value
A greater portion of healthcare spending goes to waste because of the unnecessary numerous medical tests, non-adherence to doctors’ advice, medical prescriptions or drug overdose, over indulgence in alcohol consumption, obesity and cigarette smoking. Also the wastage is attributed to the adoption of defensive medicine including redundant medical procedures.
Unhealthy lifestyles
The modern day man engagement in day-to-day activities that isn’t appropriate such as unhealthy diets and over indulgence in drugs leads to growth in chronic ailments which increases significantly the costs of health care services. This is preventable because it is due to the inappropriate behavior of individuals.
Aging population
As one grows older, our bones grow weaker, our body systems slows down in performance and our need for medical care increases hence pushing up the costs of health care.
Taxes
The tax imposition on health care pharmaceuticals and insurers effectively increases the cost of health care provision.
Uninsured persons
The costs of health care provision to the uninsured are relatively high to fund.
Free-market health care is that proposal that is transacted without the government interference through regulations, approvals or the licensing of the products or services. While a socialized medicine refers to the system controlled by government and the government is responsible for the nurses, doctors, and building hospitals and stocking it with pharmaceuticals.
The free-market solution main purpose is to eliminate governments’ regulating hospitals, doctors and insurance companies. There is the market competition on prices hence the resulting plan offered by insurers is one that the majority can afford.
The idea of state owned medical care or socialized system is to offer the general public a health care system that is accessible to every citizen. This is because the state offers health care solutions at a cost below the prevailing market rates.
The argument against a government funded health care is that insurers would offer low-cost health insurance for all in every part of the country.
If the government controls the health care system it would otherwise control the costs and this has a resultant effect on the restriction to treatments and medicines provided to the general public.
Patients who would seek medical assistance are restricted through appointments that may take up to weeks to consult a doctor. Government spending is argued to be inefficient hence this would eventually cause an upsurge in costs of health care.
In a socialized market, the expenses are minimal so citizens are not burdened financially with costs.
The alternative best solution for effective health care is the free-market system since it is highly unlikely to be controlled by politically influential individuals; pharmaceutical companies, medical practitioners and insurance companies.
References
Downie, R. S., Calman, K. C., & Schröck, R. A. K. (1994). Healthy respect: Ethics in health care. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pera, S. A., & Van, T. S. (2005). Ethics in health care. Lansdowne, South Africa: Juta.
Haacker, R. W. (1998). Ethics in health care. Bossier City, LA: Professional Print. & Pub.
Ethics in health care. (2011). Cape Town: Juta.
Boyle, P. (2001). Organizational ethics in health care: Principles, cases, and practical solutions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
