This is an insurer’s (Aetna) report, but the principle that costs are the problem is, I believe, correct. Merely finding ways to meet those costs encourages escalating them.
Compared to other Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations, hospital spending in the U.S. is more than 60 percent higher. Spending on physicians, specialists and dentists is almost 2 ½-times higher than in other OECD countries.
Hospital mergers and acquisitions jumped by 33 percent between 2009 and 2010. Research shows that hospital market concentration leads to increases in the price of hospital care.
Wow! Now aren’t M&As supposed to have the opposite effect?
Higher levels of obesity and greater access to advanced medical technology, is a primary driver of higher spending levels.
Don’t just blame the fatties. This is the food industry targeting poorer people.
After hospital spending the next biggest contributor to overall spending growth … was the increase in physician and clinical service costs.
Apparently, doctors pay up 30% of their income on liability insurance. Obama clearly needs to find other sources of campaign funds.
The implementation of new medical technology accounts for between 38 percent and 65 percent of health care spending increases.
That’s huge. Ends justifies the means looks more like a corporate slogan here.
Half of all health care spending, is the result of waste. The biggest area of excess is defensive medicine, including redundant, inappropriate or unnecessary tests and procedures.
Another huge and seemingly, easily solved problem. How many CPAs do hospitals have on their boards. Clearly not enough.
The growing burden of chronic diseases adds significantly to escalating health care costs. Obesity accounts for an estimated 12 percent of the health spending growth in recent years.
Now this is an interesting one. Were are, by all accounts, becoming healthier since we are living longer. It seems we are living longer so we can enjoy longer poor health.
Major drug manufacturers have an average profit margin of 16.7 percent; medical instrument and supply companies, 13.6 percent; biotechnology, 11.9 percent; and medical appliance and equipment companies, 13.7 percent.
This is just Aetna’s gripe about insurers being blamed for the costs. They state their profit margins are significantly less. In some senses, they do occupy the end of the soup line so their gripe is somewhat justified.
