What Causes Rising Medical Costs?

Health care costs have been rising for a number of years, here in the US. The rising costs of health care continue as individuals struggle to make household payments, general bill paying expenses, and other expenses any family contends with. Though many of us have health insurance, the general state of the economy has created a federal deficit in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. The devolving economy has made it difficult for private employers to provide health coverage for their workers. The employee may have a policy that is free to him/her, and rest of the family's health insurance must be purchased. It can be very difficult for the average working person, the unemployed, the disabled and the elderly.

Causes of rising medical costs

The rising medical costs can be problematic to the insured person as well as the uninsured or under insured person. Some of the major causes for rising medical costs include:

Technology and prescription drugs - For many years, the rising costs include medical technology and prescription drugs. There are still many drugs that have not become eligible to be made into generic versions; therefore the costs can be upwards of $300 or more for a month's prescription. Some of the insurance policies that have drug insurance won't pay for expensive drugs; however, they will pay for a drug that works similar to a less expensive drug available in generic form.

Chronic disease - The health care atmosphere has been altered considerable over the last century. We are living longer than people did a century ago. Even with chronic diseases, medical care has allowed us to live longer life spans. Many doctors that accept Medicare lose money on those patients. In order to make up for the loss, the doctors either have to take on more patients, or raise the rates to compensate for the losses caused by Medicare patients.

People with mental health issues, have higher costs to Medicare patients. Normally, with a medical doctor, Medicare pays $80 percent of the bill and the patient is responsible for the rest. However, with psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners must charge their patients at least $50 percent of the bill. (I have Medicare, but my Part B's deductible hasn't been met yet, so I have to pay $95 per visit because my Medicare doesn't pay a dime for it.)

Some health insurances carried by employed persons will pay up to $80 percent of psychiatric care, and others aren't so fortunate. Some people have to pay at least half or more of the psychiatric care on their own.

Aging population - Another costly expense is nursing home care. The patients may or may not be eligible for Medicaid and Medicare coverage. Sometimes nursing home patients are insured only by Medicare. Medicare with only pay for a certain number of days per month; the rest of the nursing home costs will have to be paid by the patient or the patient's power of attorney.

As people grow older, their need for health care increases. If they don't have adequate insurance coverage to go with Medicare, the costs of health care may be shifted to the public sector, which means higher medical costs to you and me.

Administrative costs - It is anticipated that the administrative costs are much lower for the Medicare program that is operated by the federal government. The federal government will pay so much money to cover any part of health care. Public and private insurance companies charge their customers for overhead costs and make large profits, which continue to fuel the overall spending for health care. Another administrative cost is the cost of paying the employees. As the wages increase for medical workers, the cost of medical care will need to rise to pay for it.

Conclusion

Another practice that raises medical costs and hurts the insured person is the practice of balance billing. In balance billing, the insurance company will tell the medical professional what they will pay for, and how much they will pay. The physician or health care worker must agree to the terms before the insurance company will pay. This can create a great hardship on the patient and the medical professionals. Again, the money lost due to balance billing will sometimes be reflected on the public sector in higher medical costs.

Medical errors are another complication that shoots up the cost of medical care, and may also impact an individual's quality of life. There are medical errors being done every day; some may go unnoticed, and others may be covered up, or brought into the open. For instance, many medical doctors stopped delivering babies and doing general surgery because the cost of their insurance to practice is very expensive and is rising due to medical and surgical mistakes.

A simple, but critical mistake of forgetting to have a patient void before the surgeon cuts into the abdominal/pelvic region could end up with a nicked bladder during a hysterectomy or other type of surgery. This error can cause a great deal of extra expense, and also cause dangerous infections inside the body. Sending a woman home, when she is in active premature labor, can and has caused law suits to be placed on the medical professionals and hospitals, which also drives the cost of health care skyward.

Sources

Kaiseredu.org

Calhealthplans.org