The Declines and Rises in Healthcare Costs
There has been a decline in
healthcare costs the past few years, but not enough for people to actually pay
the bills. Healthcare costs have begun to slow when compared to the late 90s
and early 2000s, but not enough for most Americans to revel in the act of using
healthcare. According to KaiserEDU
there have been some troublesome realizations that have
been realized in the past decade. "Since 2002, employer-sponsored health
coverage for family premiums have increased by 97%, placing increasing
cost burdens on employers and workers. In the public sector, Medicare covers the elderly and people with
disabilities, and Medicaid provides coverage to low-income families.
Enrollment has grown in Medicare with the aging of the baby boomers and in
Medicaid due to the recession. This means that total government spending has
increased considerably, straining federal and state budgets"[1]
What I find to be interesting is the current way which
Americans use our healthcare system. A report for 2011 complied by the
Healthcare Cost Institute broke down the spending trends for 2011.[2] (It should be noted that the report is based on people under
the age of 65 with employer sponsored or private insurance). The three points
from that report that I found most poignant were;
1. Rising
prices drove spending increases for ALL major health care service categories.
This means that because medical suppliers,
pharmaceutical companies, hospitals etc. were increasing their prices, the cost
for services rendered increased in every single major healthcare service. Therefore
the cost went up across the board from a strep throat test to a heart
transplant.
2. Out
of pocket spending increased by 4.6% to $735 in 2011.
The already crushed middle class is spending
even more money out of pocket from their own paycheck than the year before.
3.
Spending on children ages 0-18 has risen 7.7% to $2,347, continuing a trend
observed in 2010.
This statistic can be taken in a few ways. One, is that
healthcare providers are lessening their coverage for children, and thus
parents have to foot more of the bill. Or it may also mean that our children
are getting more unhealthy and that the healthcare coverage previously afforded
to children just isn’t able to keep up with the declining health of our youth.
After reading these reports I found a conflict. The Health
Cost Institute reported that there were rising costs for kids, rising costs for
out of pocket spending and for rising costs for all health services. But other
reports I had read had reported a decline in healthcare costs over the past few
years. So what’s the truth? The truth is, we don’t quite know yet, with many
governmental changes that have been in the works the past few years, it has not
yet become clear if the decline in healthcare costs is valid, or due to a major
legislative overhaul of the system which has caused healthcare management to
shift their game plan. While healthcare management and the government gets
their new plans in action, it seems the American people are paying for the
changes, changes that seem to be leaving Americans with the same healthcare but
with a higher bill.
What do you think of Healthcare Management and Governmental
changes in healthcare? Please comment on
your experiences and thoughts.
Thank you to Baylor University Healthcare MBA for a wonderful
education that has helped prepare me for the future of Healthcare!
