Why Health Care Costs so Much

There are approximately 47 million Americans who have no health care coverage. There are millions more who are under insured that a single catastrophic illness could wipe them out financially.

We are constantly hearing politicians tell us that we have the best health care coverage in the world. This is far from the truth and simply not the case. Americans lags behind the health of citizens in other developed countries. Our life expectancy is shorter than that of citizens in Canada, Japan, and all but one Western European country.

Malpractice is one of doctor's biggest worries about lawsuits. This drives doctors to order test and procedures that are not always necessary. A better solution would be reforms that encourage doctors to spend the time needed to explain to their patients the tradeoffs between potential treatments.

Inefficient insurance companies make up a third of our health care dollars to administrative cost of paper pushing. Canada has a single payer system in place that only contributes 16 percent of its health care cost. If the US were to use Canada's single payer system we could save $360 billion each year.

Consumers aren't shopping wisely. Many Americans don't pay out of pocket so they use more expensive health care than necessary. At times we will go to doctors when really don't need to; insists on CT scans for a twisted ankle when all that was needed was an ice pack. At times we are sent to the emergency room by our primary doctor when it's not necessary. Then there's the 20 percent of people who are chronically ill with multiple conditions and are generally too ill to be insisting on certain test or procedures that they need.

Many physicians believe that demanding patients are the reason they are delivering so much unnecessary health care. Patients are insisting on getting prescriptions for drugs they see advertised on television, or ask for pricey test or procedures. Some doctors fear that their patients will leave them if they do not comply with their wishes.

Are there solutions to the rising cost of health care?

Health care information systems are needed to put all medical records online so that they can be shared and viewed by the medical community. In most hospitals paper records not only waste time but also lead to duplication of effort, creating more costly errors. Test may be repeated because the results can not be located or take to long to be sent over to another doctor for evaluation.

Shared decision making is needed between the doctor and their patients to explain the tradeoffs between potential treatments. This kind of interaction could provide more personalized medicine and would also reduce unnecessary care.

What can we do now?

Find a doctor who communicates. Most of us need a primary physician who can explain what ails us and the possible ways to treat it. If your doctor already does this, then stay with him. If your doctor tends to rush you or doesn't explain things, it's then time to find another doctor.

Coordinate your own care. Talk to your primary care physician to make sure that they receive copies of all your test results and copies of your medical records from all your other doctors. It's important that your primary physician has the entire picture of your health care and all the drugs that are being prescribed to you.

Find out what difference a test or procedure makes. Ask your physician what they expect to learn from your test and whether the results will make a difference in your treatment.

Weigh the benefits and risk. If a physician recommends a surgical procedure, ask what will happen if you decide not to have it done and if there is a less invasive treatment option.

No one believes that reforming our national health care system will be easy. In fact, it's likely to be painful and will take many years to implement.