Health Care Spending

Health Care Spending

Diana Mendoza

HCS 440

July 20, 2012

Zack Zardo

Health Care Spending

Introduction

In 2010, The United States health care expenditures reached nearly 2.6 trillion dollars. This figure is 10 times than it was in 1980 when health care expenditures were only 256 billion dollars (Kaiseredu, 2012). Many people want to know why health care cost continues to rise, health care expenditures are on the rise because of the rise in chronic illnesses, the rising cost of prescription drugs and new technology. This paper will discuss the following topics, the current national health care expenditures, chronic illness, cost of prescription drugs new technolgy, the health care systems economic needs, why health care and public needs must be addressed and how to finance these needs.

Current national health care expenditures

The United States health care system is one of the most expensive and unique systems around the world because of new medical technology however there is a need to improve the quality of care. In 2010, health care spending totaled 2.6 trillion dollars or 8,402 dollars, and by 2020 health care spending, is expected to reach 4.6 trillion dollars or 13,700 per person (HealthPac, 2001-2012). There are many reasons health care expenditures continue to rise, here are three reasons health care expenditures are so high, the increase chronic illnesses, the cost of prescription drugs, and new technolgy.

Chronic illnesses

People are living longer and a large number of those people have one or more chronic diseases resulting in a rise in health care costs. The average cost of treating chronic diseases has a devastating effect on the health care system. Treating just one type of chronic disease cost billions of dollars for example, the cost of treating, Alzheimer is $148 billion, lung disease is $154 billion, diabetes is $174 billion, and heart disease $432 billion per year this averages...