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 GermanyÆs 10.7 percent, CanadaÆs 9.7 percent, FranceÆs 9.5 percent, and SwedenÆs 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 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the overall performance of the U.S. health care systems 37th out of 191 countries worldwide (Healthcare, 2004). So far, policy makers have failed to agree on the best way to address the problem, some favoring price controls, some strict budgeting of health care, others favoring free market competition, and yet others suggesting that if Americans led healthier lifestyles, the problem would take care of itself. There is no simpl...