Overuse of the health care system may not be the reason health care costs are so high. It may be because each individual treatment is expensive.
“That might sound like a difference without a distinction,” said Clelland Green, RHU, and president of Benepath, Pennsylvania. “But, there actually is a difference and it has to do with many factors, including the blending or consolidation of hospitals into chains.”
Health care costs are far more expensive in the U.S. than in any other developed nation. There are several schools of thought on this, with the first one being that med mal lawsuits have hiked the costs by driving doctors to practice defensive medicine. The other line of thought goes that the fault for higher health care costs lies with those Americans who don’t have any health insurance and use the ER rather than primary care.
“Whatever your feelings on the matter, many think that health care services are being abused. But, a new report reveals that the U.S. actually uses less health care services when compared to Western European nations. It appears the main reason is actually rising unit prices. Put another way, each individual treatment per person is costlier in the U.S.,” Green said.
The rising per unit price comes about by way of things like several hospitals merging into one mega-hospital chain. This means that there is no competition in those areas and that the hospital can charge patients whatever they want to charge them – as much as they can get away with in the marketplace.
“Stop to think about that for a moment. Health care costs have continued to rise every year, which means health insurance plan prices also go up. It’s the health insurance companies that ultimately cover the treatments and higher treatment prices affect premium prices, which in turn affects the co-pays and co-insurance percentages by driving them up as well,” Green said.
Do the more expensive health care rates, that are supposedly being used less, give patients better health care resolutions? Chances are the answer to that is no, because spending more money doesn’t always guarantee a healthier outcome.
To learn more, visit http://www.benepath.com
