Growing Healthcare Costs

Paper Summary:

The paper provides statistics on the United States' growing healthcare expenditures including those of Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drug spending, nursing home spending and home health spending. The paper reveals that since these expenditures increase year by year, it is obvious that population's state of health is only getting worse. The paper asserts that increasing health care expenditures and funding will not solve the problem, rather the government and population should increase their investment in prevention.

From the Paper:

"United States' healthcare expenditures in 2005 reached $2 trillion total, and $6,697 per person. Healthcare expenditures increased 6.9% from 2004, accounting for the third consecutive year of deceleration. In the previous years, percentage increase values were the following: 7.2% in 2004, 8.1% in 2003, and 9.1% in 2002. These total healthcare expenditures growth that seems to be following a descending direction are due to lower growth in prescription drugs expenditures (CMS, 2007).
"Also, healthcare expenditures account for 16% of GDP, after a 0.1% increase. This increase is due to the 6.3 economic growth rate. This is a significant value for the country's economic development."

Sample of Sources Used:

• National Health Expenditures (2007). Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved December 19, 2007 from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/.
• National Health Expenditure Data (2007). Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved December 19, 2007 from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/02_NationalHealthAccountsHistorical.asp#TopOfPage.
• National Health Expenditures Projections 2006-2016 (2007). Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved December 19, 2007 from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2006.pdf.
• Sponsors of Health Care Costs: Businesses, Households, and Governments, 1987-2005 (2007). Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved December 19, 2007 from http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/bhg07.pdf.

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