Rising Healthcare Cost

Many people are scared to visit hospitals or clinics these days. Why is this? It could be from the inherent fear of being sick, however, it mainly comes from the fear of receiving the bill after the visit. The issue that is taking a toll on the nation is the rising cost of medical services. The main reasons for the increase in healthcare cost are increased hospital costs, unhealthy lifestyles, the focus on curative measures, and medical advances. However, all of the causes can be solved with one solution, focusing on preventative medicine.

One reason spending has risen is the fact that hospitals are raising their cost. It is very expensive to visit hospitals, an expense that throws many families in debt. The New York Times says that “The

prices that hospitals ask…have increased by more than 10 percent between 2011 and 2013…” Hospitals are simply demanding more money from consumers. They go on to say, “They want to get more money, and the only way they can do this is to raise their prices”. Hospitals are beginning to value their time and effort at higher cost which is a direct disadvantage to the consumer. However, this will lead to a vicious cycle. When hospitals raise their costs, less people are willing to seek them out when they are in need of care. Thus, because less people are visiting hospitals, the hospital will have to raise their prices to offset this loss. This results in a never-ending cycle of loss for both parties involved. James Robinson for the Journal of Health Economics brings up another valid point by saying, “hospitals in more competitive environments exhibited significantly higher costs of production than did those in less competitive environments.” Hospitals today are becoming more competitive among each other. They are seeking out revolutionary doctors and technologies that come with large price tags, in order to make their services competitive and sought after. However, this both hurts and benefits consumers. Consumer’s benefit by staff working to provide better services, though they suffer because these increased efforts cost more. By adding more regulation to these hospitals, it would be possible to decrease these negative effects.
People living unhealthy lifestyles also add to the rising healthcare costs. In recent times, obesity has hit an all time high, which is leading to increasing amounts of illness. This increased illness is leading to more people spending more money on healthcare to alleviate the issues. Santa Clara University says, “American Medical Association recently revealed that at least 25 cents of every health care dollar is spent on the treatment of diseases or disabilities that result from potentially changeable behaviors.” This money doesn’t come from the people with the diseases and disabilities because they simply can’t afford it. Instead, this money comes from others who do not participate in this behavior through increased healthcare costs and higher insurance costs. Therefore, people who are living unhealthy lifestyles are increasing the cost of healthcare and making others pay for their behaviors. This behavior can be changed though. If doctor were to spend more time informing the population on ways to prevent these diseases and disabilities, then it would be possible to see a decrease in them. Decreasing these diseases will directly decrease the amount of money spent towards curing them. However it is important to note that it will cost money to educate, though it will be much cheaper to educate millions as a whole rather than paying for treatment of one person.
Related to the previous reason, medical care providers are focusing on curing the sick and diseased rather than taking preventative measures. The nation spends a large amount of money diagnosing and treating diseases. The majority of this spending goes to people who are living unhealthy lifestyles, specifically obesity and diabetes. Kenneth Thorpe wrote an article on his theory about the rise in healthcare spending in which he says; “nearly two-thirds of the rise in health care spending is linked to a rise in treated disease prevalence (for example, diabetes) and innovations in medical treatment. Health behavior such as overconsumption of food, lack of exercise, smoking, and stress accounts for approximately 40–50 percent of morbidity and mortality.” This translates to the fact that the diseases that are being treatable are preventable. If spending were directed towards preventing these behaviors rather than trying to cure them, the amount of people with the diseases and disabilities would decrease. This would cause in turn cause less spending on healthcare because money would no longer be tunneled into a never-ending cause. In order to prove that unhealthy behavior does in fact cause more spending, Thorpe does research to find trends between the rise of obesity and the rise in healthcare spending He found that, “A rise in treated disease prevalence accompanied the rise in obesity among both children and adults between 1987 and 2002.” This shows that not only can these preventable behaviors be directly related to increased spending, but that it is directly driving these costs to increase every year. From this, it is apparent that in order to decrease the nations spending, it is necessary to implement programs focusing on preventative medicine.
Lastly, medical advances also are to blame for rising healthcare costs.

It’s no surprise that scientists are constantly working on new medical technology, inventing ways for less invasive surgery, and finding new medications. All of these new discoveries cost money. This demand also comes from the population too. People are now demanding the latest and newest medical technology, because people relate new with better. Parija Kavilanz from CNN shows she agrees with this assessment when she says, “These high-cost procedures improve the quality of care but they also push up costs for consumers.” Unfortunately, medicine is expensive and new medicine is even more expensive. The only way to decrease the demand for new medicine is to decrease the amounts that are sick. This goes back to the need for preventative medicine. By having more preventative medicine programs, more people will live better healthier lifestyle and decrease the demand for these medical advances. Medical Doctor, Thomas Bodenheimer, brings up another great point about the new technology when he says, “Because the spread of new technologies is relatively unrestrained in the United States, many of these technologies are used to a greater extent than in other nations, and the United States thereby incurs higher health care costs.” The United States does not restrict or budget themselves when it comes to these new advances. When a medical breakthrough reveals itself, it is spread across the nation at record rates in order to reach the maximum about of people possible. In other nations, that spend considerably less on medical costs, technology and spending is highly regulated. So, regulating our spending and technology could very well be another solution to these high

costs.
Overall, the best way to battle these rising costs is to focus on preventative medicine. A new focus on the concept of medicine will not decrease the demand for medicine nor hurt healthcare providers. However, it will eliminate the waste of tunneling money into diseases and grant the nation will a healthier population. It should be noted that this will not cure the sick nor will it account for emergency situations that will indeed cost a lot, as there will never be a completely healthy society. Though, it would be the best solution to battle a rising issue. There are many problems that contribute to our nations extreme spending on healthcare, however working together to solve this issue will be beneficial to all.