The Rising Cost of Healthcare

The Rising Cost of Healthcare Without a doubt healthcare costs are rising out of control. Not one of us are happy with the increases, but we have to understand what the reasons are for the increases in healthcare. American people look at their insurance bills, co-pays and drug costs, and do not understand why they continue to increase. The insured should consider all reasons behind the increase before getting upset. In 2004, employer health care premiums increased over 11 percent, four times more than the rate of inflation. In 2003, premiums rose 10.1 percent and in 1002 they rose 15 percent. Employee spending for coverage increased 126 percent between 2000 and 2004. These increases were lower than expected. The site to look up information on the cost of health care coverage and the breakdown on the cost is (National Coalition on Health Care, Facts on health care costs). Premiums have risen five times faster than workers’ wages, if medical spending continues to rise by just two percent more than a person’s personal income, by 2040 Medicare and Medicaid will rise 8.4 percent of gross domestic product this year’s 15.6 percent by 2040, according to Congressional Budget Office projections. If all government programs stay at the same size relative to the economy, the budget will grow from 19.9 percent of GDP in 2003 to 27.1 percent by 2040, (http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb-0306-15.pdf). There are huge impacts of the rising costs of healthcare. Many people cannot afford health insurance today and struggle to pay for their medical needs. Of the families that do have health coverage, 50 percent are concerned about having to pay more for the coverage in the future, while 42 percent fear they will not be able to afford coverage at all if the rate increase keep s going the way it is. This leads to believe one of the reasons for health care cost increases: cost sharing or cost shifting. When an individual or a family does not have insurance, and cannot