Effects Of Spending In Health Care

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Register to read the introduction… Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990, and over eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980. Stemming this growth has become a major policy priority, as the government, employers, and consumers increasingly struggle to keep up with health care cost. Hospital spending, the largest share of overall health care spending, is a major driver of increased costs The current national expenditure have tripled over the last decade especially in hospital care, physician/clinical services and drug ( Kaiser, 2010). The United States is at an all time high in health care. In the health care system there are some factors that contribute to this increase. It is getting to the point that more and more Americans cannot afford health care, because of the cost of health care is getting harder to maintain for their families.

Whether Spending is too much or not enough

It is difficult to pin point one exact factor why spending is escalating. The chart below states that hospital care, physician/clinical services and prescription drugs are where the most spending is taking place (Kaiser, 2010). This shows we are spending too much, especially in these top three categories listed. When health care cost is steadily increasing, so we are spending a great deal in the list above.

National Health Expenditures, 2008
…show more content…
“While it is impossible to point to any single breakdown contributing to the waste, it is clear from the study’s findings that this is an industry that has significantly underutilized technology to improve efficiencies,” he says, adding that cloud computing could help mend a healthcare system that is stuck in the inefficiencies and limitations found in older legacy systems (Chavis, 2011). There needs to be an investment in our technology system for health care for example: electronic medical records (EMR) to better serve the patients and technology that is being required to give quality service and modify the provider’s wages, since in the hospital this is the biggest cost. This is a start in the direction to accommodate the Americans who cannot afford health care. These small changes can contribute to a clear forecast in health

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