What makes American health care so expensive?Article added by Paul Wilson on September 12, 2013
In case you cannnot read the entire piece, here is the link for the article: http://www.producersweb.com/r/pwebmc/d/contentFocus/?pcID=c2a81be653c0646f0fa73e477dd86bed&pn=1
Americans can — and do – argue all day long about the ins and outs ofObamacare. The right to voice your opinion, no matter how little time you've spent researching it, is part of what makes our country great. And boy, do we take advantage.
But no matter one's thoughts on PPACA, it's getting harder and harder to argue for our health care system in its current form. Study after study have found that Americans live shorter lives than people in other developed nations, that our infants die more often and of more causes, and that our women face a high risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. We also have the second-highest rate of death among wealthy nations from both coronary heart disease and lung disease.
To add insult to injury, we spend far more than any other nation for these decidedly mediocre results. The U.S. spends nearly 20 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, almost double the amount spent by most other developed countries. According to the Congressional Budget Office, if medical costs continue to grow unabated, “total spending on health care would eventually account for all of the country’s economic output.” The CBO has identified federal spending on government health programs as a primary cause of long-term budget deficits.
But why? What makes American health care so expensive?
Elisabeth Rosenthal, a correspondent for the New York Times, is spending an entire year investigating that very question through a series of articles titled "Paying Till It Hurts." "The purpose of the series," she says," is to make Americans aware of the costs we pay for health care."
So far, she has published three articles detailing some of the underlying problems that have led to these out-of-control costs.
Through her research, Rosenthal has found that while exorbitant drug prices and an obsession with extending patients' lives contribute heavily to the nation's nearly $3 trillion annual health care bill, one of the most significant factors is the cost of simple, everyday services.
Her first piece, "The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill," is subtitled, "Colonoscopies Explain Why U.S. Leads the World in Health Expenditures." In a recent interview on NPR's "Fresh Air," Rosenthal told Terry Gross, "In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars, and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending."
Another everyday procedure, childbirth, is the topic of the second article in the series, "American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World."
"Childbirth in the United States is uniquely expensive, and maternity and newborn care constitute the single biggest category of hospital payouts for most commercial insurers and state Medicaid programs," Rosenthal writes. "The cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births is well over $50 billion."
But no matter one's thoughts on PPACA, it's getting harder and harder to argue for our health care system in its current form. Study after study have found that Americans live shorter lives than people in other developed nations, that our infants die more often and of more causes, and that our women face a high risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. We also have the second-highest rate of death among wealthy nations from both coronary heart disease and lung disease.
To add insult to injury, we spend far more than any other nation for these decidedly mediocre results. The U.S. spends nearly 20 percent of its gross domestic product on health care, almost double the amount spent by most other developed countries. According to the Congressional Budget Office, if medical costs continue to grow unabated, “total spending on health care would eventually account for all of the country’s economic output.” The CBO has identified federal spending on government health programs as a primary cause of long-term budget deficits.
But why? What makes American health care so expensive?
Elisabeth Rosenthal, a correspondent for the New York Times, is spending an entire year investigating that very question through a series of articles titled "Paying Till It Hurts." "The purpose of the series," she says," is to make Americans aware of the costs we pay for health care."
So far, she has published three articles detailing some of the underlying problems that have led to these out-of-control costs.
Through her research, Rosenthal has found that while exorbitant drug prices and an obsession with extending patients' lives contribute heavily to the nation's nearly $3 trillion annual health care bill, one of the most significant factors is the cost of simple, everyday services.
Her first piece, "The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill," is subtitled, "Colonoscopies Explain Why U.S. Leads the World in Health Expenditures." In a recent interview on NPR's "Fresh Air," Rosenthal told Terry Gross, "In many other developed countries, a basic colonoscopy costs just a few hundred dollars, and certainly well under $1,000. That chasm in price helps explain why the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending."
Another everyday procedure, childbirth, is the topic of the second article in the series, "American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World."
"Childbirth in the United States is uniquely expensive, and maternity and newborn care constitute the single biggest category of hospital payouts for most commercial insurers and state Medicaid programs," Rosenthal writes. "The cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births is well over $50 billion."
In case you cannnot read the entire piece, here is the link for the article: http://www.producersweb.com/r/pwebmc/d/contentFocus/?pcID=c2a81be653c0646f0fa73e477dd86bed&pn=1
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