Heathcare

Heathcare

With an estimated 47 million Americans and counting living in the U.S. without health insurance, there should be major cause for concern. There are numerous factors that affect this growing problem; however, the current economic problem has the most significant impact. Due to the current state of the U.S. economy, more and more employers are shifting health care costs to employees; America’s workers struggle to pay higher premiums, deductibles and co-payments - if they can afford such coverage at all. (1) Health care costs are rising at 5 times the rate of inflation. Employers are responding to the increasing costs by putting more of a burden on their employees to pay more out of pocket expenses such as larger co-pays and deductibles. The average family cannot afford additional out-of-pocket expenses on their median salaries and the result is that their families and they are going without. One of the leading factors for this increasing cost is a supply and demand issue. Staffing levels are dangerously low in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities. As a result, medical errors are rising and in turn cause increased costs due to additional research and development hoping to prevent such mistakes in the future.

Additional environmental factors affect the cost as well as the lack of health care coverage in America. Unhealthy lifestyles many American’s choose to live and the costs associated with those lifestyles. There is an obesity epidemic in America. More and more Americans are overweight and obese due to poor education and the availability of fast food. Obesity results in more visits to the hospital to treat weight related health issues that could easily be avoided, and in turn costs the taxpayers and the government more money. Chronic illness is on the rise as well. Individuals suffering from these conditions are dependent on pharmalogical treatment and with the cost of research and development for new medications, and costs...