Rising Health Care Costs

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, although advances in medicine have meant that people live longer, they come with a price, which the medical aid schemes are typically required to cover. It looks at how the bottom line is that working people's premiums have to subsidize pensioners, who are the ones who usually require most of the care. It discusses how, as the cost of medical treatment escalates, a fine balancing act is also required to balance the books and how major chronic illnesses, such as HIV and various forms of cancer, are impacting the people who can pay health care premiums, as well as increasing the number of those who require a high level of medical attention.

Outline
Health Care Spending
A Brief Explanation
Utilization
Competition
Past Medical History
Medical Technology
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In the mid-1990s, Americans began spending more of each dollar on health care than on food or housing (Phelps, 1997). This new way of spending indicated that society can devote fewer resources to life's basics and more to resources to improving the quality of life. This was proven true when the prediction that health care spending would surge within the decade, had multiplied from one-seventh of the gross domestic product (GDP) to one-quarter of the GDP by the year 2000 (Strunk, 2003). According to Struck it continued from there because in 2001, health spending rose 8.7 percent, to $1.4 trillion, and accounted for 14.1 percent of the total economy, the largest share on record (2003)."

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