Question

The advances made in health care have been exponentially increasing over the past hundred years; however, the availability of some of these advances has been blunted by lengthy approval processes, excessive costs, limited access, or regulatory requirements. Should these factors be modified? If so, how?

Answer 1

Ans) Healthcare costs in the U.S. have been rising for decades and are expected to keep increasing.

- The U.S. spent almost $3.5 trillion on healthcare in 2017, according to a study by the American Medical Association.

- Five factors that affect the cost of healthcare: a growing population, aging seniors, disease prevalence or incidence, medical service utilization, and service price and intensity.

- Overall Costs of Healthcare:
Healthcare costs have risen drastically in the U.S. over the past several decades. According to a March 2019 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), healthcare spending in the U.S. rose nearly a trillion dollars between 1996 and 2015.

- The study reported that healthcare spending in the U.S. during 2017 was $3.5 trillion, or about $11,000 per person. By 2027, these costs are expected to climb to $6 trillion—roughly $17,000 per person.

- According to the study, spending can be broken down into 11 categories:

Hospital care (32.7%)
Physician services (15.6%)
Other personal health care costs (15.1%)
Prescription drugs (9.5%)
The net cost of health insurance (6.6%)
Nursing care facilities (4.8%)
Investment spending (4.8%)
Clinical services (4.3%)
Home healthcare (2.8%)
Government public health activities (2.5%)
Government administration (1.3%)

- The JAMA study investigated how five key factors were associated with healthcare increases over time:

Population growth
Population aging
Disease prevalence or incidence
Medical service utilization
Service price and intensity
The authors found that service price and intensity, including the rising cost of pharmaceutical drugs, made up more than 50% of the increase. Other factors, which comprised the rest of the cost increase, varied by type of care and health condition.