Affordable Health Insurance Restricted by Overblown Health Care CostsApril 2008
According to recent analysis by PricewaterhouseCooper's Health Research Institute, more than half of the $2.2 trillion dollars America spends on health care and medical insurance is
completely wasted on excess health spending and inefficiency. That's a whopping $1.2 trillion taxpayer dollars thrown away - is it any wonder then that as costs funnel down to consumers,
affordable health insurance has become so hard to find?
In the study, the wasted spending was broken into three different categories: defensive medicine, inefficient health-care administration, and consumer behavior.
The biggest area of wasteful spending is defensive medicine, where inappropriate, unnecessary, or redundant tests and procedures raise health care costs, and by extension, medical insurance premiums. This happens when a doctor orders 15 tests on you, but you really only needed one.
Inefficient health care administration is really only sophisticated jargon that means "poor organization," referring to the bloated and confusing nature of our health care system.
But consumer behavior is perhaps the most frustrating of all, since it boosts
medical insurance costs, making affordable health insurance unavailable to those very people who need it the most. Among such behaviors are smoking, non-adherence to medical advice and prescriptions, alcohol abuse, and obesity.
Of course, in many cases consumer behavior is locked in by the cycle of overblown health care costs. Many people don't take their medications not because they're stubborn or don't want to, but because they can't afford those expensive little pills or drugs that can actually save their lives and make them healthier.
Facts on:
Medical Insurance Spending
Did you know...
Over $1.2 trillion dollars of taxpayer money is wasted unnecessary health care and medical insurance costs?
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And in terms of obesity, smoking, and alcohol abuse, too often those people who suffer from such behavioral problems don't have access to affordable health insurance, so they aren't getting the kind of support, advice, and feedback from doctors that could save their lives, and minimize their medical bills.
This is why it's so important to get medical insurance coverage that offers regular checkups. Of course, we all know that this is easier said than done. Shopping online and comparing rates helps, but finding affordable health insurance that does its job is still a frustrating endeavor for millions of Americans.
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