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Rising Healthcare Costs

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Healthcare cost have been a very popular topic to elaborate on within society lately. Some individuals may complain because the healthcare cost are outrageous at times and not affordable. Healthcare cost rise due to the demand for hospitals goods and services rising, living unhealthy lifestyles, there is an aging population living longer, and new technology has enhanced medical goods and services. Are the increases year by year in health care cost justified?

Physicians may play a role in the rising healthcare cost as well. A physician is the only one that can diagnose the problem and say how much medical attention is needed. At times fee for service physicians may over diagnose a patient due to them being able to receive a payment for each …show more content…
In order for hospitals to provide essential care to patients they must have continuing growth of their staff. Physicians are needed to diagnose the patient, nurses must be provided to assist physician with patient care, and labor workers are needed such as custodians and cafeteria cooks to keep a hospital operating. A hospital that continues to grow with new patients that need care has to hire more employees which cause the cost to patients and health insurance companies to rise. Technology has intrigued the medical field with great advances. New equipment has been placed In hospitals such as robotic surgeries, allowing more than thirty-six percent of hospitals to perform robotic surgery(kavilanz, 2012). Also, in order to continue receiving advanced equipment and to continue research for new medical treatments hospitals cost rise to fund medical advances. Hospital charges are said to be about a third of the 2.7 trillion annual United States health care bill and a big part of rising medical cost (Rosenthal, 2013). Hospitals have do not have much regulation when it comes to prices for goods and services in the private market. A chargemaster is a price list created by each hospital which includes over ten thousand entries where just about everything has a cost(Rosenthal,2013). Unfortunately with there not being much regulation over hospital cost a lot of households may …show more content…
Now that individuals are living longer the demand more physicians, nurses, and treatment to continue life has increased. The medical field has a high demand to hire skilled medical workers due to the baby boomers. In the United States between 1990 and 2001 nursing homes and home health care expenses doubled due to the aging population(CDC, 2014). Durable medical equipment like wheelchairs and walkers have caused another expense for insurance companies. Most individuals that have retired at 65 or above will use mostly use the government provided program Medicare. As people age they may still be living an unhealthy lifestyle which will carry risks of developing preventable diseases with them as they age. Most old age individuals occur the highest amount of medical cost during their last year of life(National Institute on Aging

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