COST
The rising costs of healthcare in the US are well known. The percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) absorbed by health care in countries other than the US is only 8.3 percent, compared with 13.9 percent in the US. Actuarial’s now project the annual growth in U.S. to absorb as much as 18.4 percent of U.S. GDP by 2013. While the US consistently spends a larger percentage of their overall economy on healthcare than any other nation in the world, the quality of the US health care system does not reflect that spending. For example, the US has a higher rate of infant mortality and asthma mortality, compared to many developing nations.
Pharmaceutical costs are very high, causing patients to forgo expensive drugs (or under treat with split doses) or delay treatment until their health condition becomes life-threatening. Businesses are getting hit with an expense they once thought impossible, paying an average of $8,500 a year per employee. The insurance premium inflation trickles down to employees, who must pay a larger percentage of the premiums out of their pocket or choose to go without insurance, which contributes to increases in the number of uninsured. In this way, rising costs often have a negative impact on access. Employer sponsored health insurance has begun to shift from a defined benefits package to a defined contribution—requiring consumers to become more informed about and actively engaged in purchasing decisions regarding health insurance because they will be contributing more to these costs, a dynamic that may have a significant positive impact on quality.
