What is causing healthcare prices to go up?

Healthcare is very expensive. Costs have been rising over the decades. In 1960, healthcare expenditures per capita were only $147 but in 2010, they were $8,402.




Some people say that it is being caused by certain providers gaining monopolies while others say that they are caused by overregulation. And then some think that it is caused by something completely different entirely.

What do you think?

Masterhawk said:

Healthcare is very expensive. Costs have been rising over the decades. In 1960, healthcare expenditures per capita were only $147 but in 2010, they were $8,402.
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Some people say that it is being caused by certain providers gaining monopolies while others say that they are caused by overregulation. And then some think that it is caused by something completely different entirely.

What do you think?

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stems from the pharmaceutical market in my opinion. they are a mafia that controls health care. if you have a pill that is in high demand, jack the prices up and raise rates!

gosh i cant stand what our government has become. very sad.

Providers charging more for services than they do anywhere else on earth. Many markets are a monopoly with one health system controlling everything. You also have way over utilization by healthcare consumers. Inefficiencies of regional insurance networks. Poor end of life planning. Most people do a pretty bad job of taking care of their personal health and fitness (good diet, regular exercise and so on). There are lots of factors.

However, I would find it hard to believe its over regulation, as more other countries regulate their health systems far more and spend half as much per capita on healthcare.

biglawnmower said:

stems from the pharmaceutical market in my opinion. they are a mafia that controls health care. if you have a pill that is in high demand, jack the prices up and raise rates!

gosh i cant stand what our government has become. very sad.

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Prescription drugs are only about 10% of overall health spending. Its a problem but its far from the biggest one.

SouthernDemocrat said:

Prescription drugs are only about 10% of overall health spending. Its a problem but its far from the biggest one.

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10% of overall spending?

sure.

but they still control health care.

whats a hospital without medicine?

SouthernDemocrat said:

Providers charging more for services than they do anywhere else on earth. Many markets are a monopoly with one health system controlling everything. You also have way over utilization by healthcare consumers. Inefficiencies of regional insurance networks. Poor end of life planning. Most people do a pretty bad job of taking care of their personal health and fitness (good diet, regular exercise and so on). There are lots of factors.

However, I would find it hard to believe its over regulation, as more other countries regulate their health systems far more and spend half as much per capita on healthcare.

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With an aging and more obese population demanding that insurance (using a for profit middle man often selected by the employer) cover ever more costs it is no wonder that medical care prices go up far faster than general inflation. Insurance should be used only for the rare, unexpected and expensive medical care costs - not to guarantee that all out of pocket medical care costs are reduced to a flat (monthly) rate based on one's age and tobacco use alone.

Old people.

Greed of all the big shots in the medical field...

What do you think is causing the rise in healthcare costs in the US?

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we are still operating under the delusion that an essential service with inelastic demand is best delivered by putting three layers of for profit entities between the patient and health care, and that health care should depend on where you work and where you live. meanwhile, the rest of the first world is getting equivalent or better outcomes in most areas for a fraction of the cost.

Masterhawk said:

Healthcare is very expensive. Costs have been rising over the decades. In 1960, healthcare expenditures per capita were only $147 but in 2010, they were $8,402.
View attachment 67232463

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Some people say that it is being caused by certain providers gaining monopolies while others say that they are caused by overregulation. And then some think that it is caused by something completely different entirely.

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Costs are going up because we are more willing to pay, and we have more disposable income as a nation than ever before.

Costs are going up because we value quality highly.

Costs are also going up because we have virtually no price transparency, and interestingly, it looks like The new HHS secretary, Alex Azar, is attempting to significantly change that with a regulation asking for price transparency in hospitals.

We’ll see if the rest of the corrupt administration will allow it to happen.

Masterhawk said:

Some people say that it is being caused by certain providers gaining monopolies while others say that they are caused by overregulation. And then some think that it is caused by something completely different entirely.

What do you think?

Click to expand...

The short answer is because we pour money into it, we have for decades. Partly that's because of policy choices that encourage putting money into health care instead of into other goods and services, partly it's the reality of our geography and consumer expectations and market structure, and partly it's because we're rich.

So we direct a big chunk of our collective income into the health sector. And since that's where the money is, it's increasingly where the jobs are (although at this point I suppose it's more of a chicken-or-egg thing). When we say health care has grown as a share of the economy, we don't just mean it represents a greater share of our GDP. We also mean it represents a greater share of our job opportunities.



Hence the political stickiness of it all. In health care, "costs," more often than not, are paychecks. As more of the labor force flows into that sector, more paychecks get cut to more people and costs rise.

Masterhawk said:

Healthcare is very expensive. Costs have been rising over the decades. In 1960, healthcare expenditures per capita were only $147 but in 2010, they were $8,402.
View attachment 67232463

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Some people say that it is being caused by certain providers gaining monopolies while others say that they are caused by overregulation. And then some think that it is caused by something completely different entirely.

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Health insurance company profits,don't seem to be suffering!

A variety of things:

Money in politics most prominently, resulting in:

1. A persistence of the status quo and a lack of singlepayer/hybrid payer systems that have been proven vastly more cost effective the world over.
3. Greatly fragmented insurer/payer market which adds considerable administrative inefficiencies due to the need for vast quantities of clerical staff/man hours for payment dispute/settling, and middle men that need to profit.
5. Legal pressures and monetary incentive among providers to pursue unnecessary tests/treatment.
7. A lack of cost controls/price moderation in general at all levels, from labour/providers, to suppliers, to payers/insurers relative to inelastic demand and a captive market.
9. Prohibition of govt from negotiating drug/supplier prices.
11. Creation/preservation of patent law that greatly favours medical/drug suppliers and allows them to charge exorbitant, predatory prices.

Administrative costs consume 31 percent of US health spending, most of it unnecessary | Physicians for a National Health Program

Report: Healthcare in America Is Grossly Inefficient

Is American Health Care Uniquely Inefficient?

Eliminating-Waste-in-US-Healthcare-Berwick | Ricardo Esteves - Academia.edu

The result of Obamacare

Healthcare is not a free market and never will be.

Single payer is the answer

Obama and the deep state.

rocket88 said:

Obama and the deep state.

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They were going up much faster before Obama

vegas giants said:

They were going up much faster before Obama

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You are not allowed anything "facts-based." Trump has decreed it.

rocket88 said:

You are not allowed anything "facts-based." Trump has decreed it.

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Oh ok. Then its the Illuminati

vegas giants said:

Oh ok. Then its the Illuminati

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Now you're getting it.

New technology.

"What is causing healthcare prices to go up?"


Americans' attitude of

I deserve only the best and I deserve it right now.

Never mind that I have never paid into any of the "community pots" like insurance companies or taxes - I'm entitled to it all.

And if I don't get what I want, I will sue you all.

Masterhawk said:

Healthcare is very expensive. Costs have been rising over the decades. In 1960, healthcare expenditures per capita were only $147 but in 2010, they were $8,402.
View attachment 67232463

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Some people say that it is being caused by certain providers gaining monopolies while others say that they are caused by overregulation. And then some think that it is caused by something completely different entirely.

What do you think?

Click to expand...

Healthcare prices are increasing because of several factors, IMO.

Firstly, demand is much higher than supply (for that matter, if people could afford it, literally tens of millions more would be buying healthcare), and in some cases the cost isn't even a consideration (given the alternatives).

Secondly, those providing care in many (most?) cases are driven by profit - the health of customers is not a concern, beyond ensuring the costs of malfunctions and lawsuits does not cut into profits too much. That, and the PR aspect.

It's good for profits to find a niche disease, provide a cure, and charge a massive amount for it, because the market has no choice but to bear it or die/endure the disease.


Part of the cost is also the bargaining imbalance.
An individual or family has little bargaining power against a large corporation providing care - I have occasionally wondered if a potential partial solution would be for citizens in a given area to collectively bargain for care with a provider - it would give them more leverage at the negotiations, and probably result in lower overall prices for that area.

Basically, single-payer in a limited area.

Americans are the the second fattest population on earth, right behind Mexicans. The technology to cope with that is expensive.

I think there are a lot of factors involved for the high cost of healthcare.
Most people get their healthcare coverage from their employer and I don't think most much care how much healthcare costs because their employer is footing the bill. But maybe they should because as the cost goes up to cover you and your family the chances of you seeing a decent raise significantly decreases. Or you may find because of your healthcare costs your company can no longer afford to keep you and they downsize leaving you without a job and no healthcare.
So the first problem is not enough people really care as long as someone else is picking up the tab whether it be their employer or the government.

Second, this country leads in technological discoveries from testing to cures, to procedures to a pill for whatever ails you. All these discoveries come with a hefty price tag. They often take specialized persons to perform such things. Persons who spent a lot of time and money preparing to perform such procedures or funding scientists to create them. So my second point top of the line technology, research, equipment, and trained persons to perform them do not come cheap.

Third, because of fear of being sued, doctors have been engaging in over testing just to cover their hides. Often these tests are quite expensive. Instead of one test why not three or four! Tort reform is really needed.

Fourth, as we age that is when things in our bodies start to fall apart. At 65 when Medicare kicks in is when you become real expensive to the taxpayers. Because all it takes is one major operation and everything you paid into Medicare all your life employed barely covers the cost these days. This can't be sustained. And doctors are often having to take a lesser payment from Medicare as payment in full but doctors and hospitals make up the difference in raising costs on others who are younger.

Fifth, the medical profession needs a good dose of competition. From insurance, drugs, hospitals, doctors, free, fair market principles are greatly needed. And the truth of reality lies in a hypothetical, if there was a pill derived from the bark of some tree that just grows in the rainforest can cure all cancer and costs a 10,000 a pill, is every individual entitled to it even if they can't pay for it?