The Real Problem with High Healthcare Costs

The following is a guest blog by Monica Stout from MedicaSoft.  The rising cost of healthcare in the U.S. is something that nearly everyone experiences on a regular basis. Looking at the trend over the last few decades, there is an eye-opening surge in cost. There’s a great article/table by Kimberly Amadeo that outlines health care costs by year from 1960 to 2015. The cost per person for health care in 1960 was $146. In 2015, the cost per person was $9,990, over 68 times higher than it was in 1960. The trend shows no sign of slowing; 2018 costs have only gotten higher. The National Conference of State Legislatures cited a figure from a Kaiser Employer Survey stating that annual premiums reached $18,764 in 2017. Costs for people purchasing insurance on an exchange or privately increased even more. Increasing healthcare costs impact everyone. Why have costs gotten so high? Wasn’t the Affordable Care Act supposed to make coverage more affordable? Instead, many are faced with even higher insurance premiums for themselves and their families. Sometimes that equates to having to make difficult choices in care. And should people have to decide whether or not they can afford to seek care or treatment? Many people want to blame insurance companies or hospitals or lobbyists or politicians. In truth, it’s a complex issue. And one of the core reasons it’s so hard to dissect is that there is a real lack of data – cost and price information, and clinical information on care qual...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Digital Health Healthcare Healthcare Interoperability HealthCare IT Patient Portal PHR HIEs Medicasoft Monica Stout Patient Portals Patient-Centered Data Home PCDH Source Type: blogs