Health Care Cost Increases

Health Care cost continue to increase due to the population of aging people. Patients are sicker than ever before. Hospital costs are on the rise. The increase of drug use and poor choices of living styles has increased medical costs. The rise in patients filing Mal-practice suites on doctors also increases medical costs.Some insurance companies are promoting programs for good health. In these programs people are awarded for healthy eating habits, exercise programs and making smart choices in their lifestyle.

In Michigan 53 Nursing schools are turning away 1/2 of their applicants because, there is a shortage of teachers. There is a fear of operating rooms having to close in the next few years due to the Nursing shortage. As baby boomer Nurses reach retirement, warnings are going off. The predicted shortage is thought to be up to 18,000, when the baby boomers retire. You may walk into a hospital around that time and not be able to have a operation or hospital bed because, of the Nursing shortage. Nursing schools are turning away applicants due to the Instructor shortage. Who will train the next generation of Nurse? Fast track Nursing programs are being funded by the Federal government to speed up training. They need these Nurses in 3 years instead of 4 years. If colleges had at least 5 more Nursing Instructors, that would increase the graduating Nurses by 200. These retiring Nurses could be asked to go back to school to receive Masters degrees. That way they could be Instructors for Nurse trainees. Some hospitals are keeping up with Clinical time by logging the trainees time on the floor. The Nursing shortage is predicted to increase drastically in the coming years.

The poor areas in the United States are the hardest hit areas by the doctor shortage. Two years after Katrina there still are gaps in the doctor shortage in the New Orleans and Mississipppi areas. The war on terror and the immigration laws are slowing the doctors coming into the U.S.A. from foreign countries. 35 Million Americans do not have a doctor at the present time. To take care of this many patients, it would take 16,000 doctors to fill in the gaps. This number is expected to increase. Did you realize that there are approximately 280 doctors for every 100,000 people in the United States. According to Mississippi there are only 103 doctors for every 100,000 people in an 18 county area. Some schools are trying to get more medical students to enter Medical school. It takes years to be trained though. Doctors from foreign countries come here on J-1 visa's but, the number of foreign doctors has decreased since 9-11.