Factors Leading to Rising Healthcare Costs in the United States
One of the most alarming concerns among most American citizens is the country’s rising healthcare costs. It continues to become challenging for uninsured individuals to afford healthcare and seek treatments for their conditions. Read on to learn why healthcare costs in the United States are so high.
Expensive Prescription Drugs
Prescription drugs and medicines are often a common element among most treatments. In fact, these drugs play a critical role in saving patients’ lives and managing their health conditions effectively when taken regularly and in the right quantity.
However, the United States healthcare system offers prescription drugs at prices twice as high as 32 other countries of the world. Their prices increased by 5.7% in 2019 and continue to rise every year. As a result, the overall healthcare spending on prescription drugs continues to rise too. The expensive prescription drug costs are an outcome of Big Pharma’s effort to protect their R&D and other intellectual property.
Unaffordable Medical Care
Apart from expensive prescription drugs, another significant contributor toward high healthcare costs is the unaffordable medical care. Medical care includes hospitalization, treatment, and post-treatment care costs for patients.
Hospital care services cost around 1.2 trillion in 2019. The intense use of medical care services among patients plays a massive role in these costs. Furthermore, the employment of new and advanced technologies and the location of the hospital also determine how high the medical care costs are likely to be.
Increase in Chronic Diseases
Despite the frequent reliance on the healthcare system, the American population continues to become subject to chronic diseases. This is a direct outcome of the lack of preventative care among patients.
The development of chronic diseases among patients of all ages and backgrounds ultimately leads to an increased healthcare spending, making health inaccessible and unaffordable for a significant chunk of the population.
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