U.S. Healthcare Expenditure In 2003, health care spending in th

In 2003, health care spending in the United States rose at five times the rate of inflation, the fastest rate in U.S. history (NCHC-Costs, 2004). In 2002, health care premiums rose at a rate five times faster than the inflation rate, which was the largest one-year increase in premiums in more than a decade. At this rate, by 2006, the average family health insurance premium will be more than $14,500 annually, a rise of more than $5000 a year in just three years. Experts agree that the healthcare system is full of inefficiencies, inflated prices, excessive expenses, poor management, inappropriate care and a lot of waste and fraud, which will significantly increase health care costs and so increase medical insurance premiums for employers and consumers alike if significant reforms are not instituted very quickly, which seem s unlikely.

The United States spends a greater percentage of its gross domestic product on health care than any other major industrialized nation (NCHC-Costs, 2004). In 2001 this amounted to 14.1 percent, compared to Germany's 10.7 percent, Canada's 9.7 percent, France's 9.5 percent, and Sweden's 8.7 percent. In 2004, U.S. healthcare expenditure was expected to top $1.4 trillion (Healthcare, 2004). Despite this higher spending, the United States does not offer more health care resources than other countries, and has a higher infant mortality rate than the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, and Japan (NCHC-Costs, 2004). In

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iors spend roughly $2,300 a year on medications. Co-payments for brand name drugs for those with prescription coverage in their health insurance plans jumped 62 percent last year from $16 in 2000 to $26 last year. Generics rose only $1 for $8 to $9. The doubling of copayments for prescription drugs means that there is a 10 percent to 12 percent reduction in the use of medications for such chronic condition as diabetes and hypertension, which ultimately leads to more health problems. When employees are laid off, a common occurrence in the past few years with cut backs and so many manufacturing jobs going overseas, few can afford to pay for COBRA, the health insurance program for just such workers (NCHC-Coverage, 2004). The average premium for the coverage is almost $700 a month, while the average unemployment benefit is only $1,100 a month. The lack of health care insurance means that often people delay seeking medical attention and tend not to have needed prescriptions filled because of the expense, often leading them into more serious health problems which end up costing even more to treat. Uninsured people are more likely to be hospitalized for preventable conditions than the insured because of lack of early diagno

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