Healthcare is significant for the society because people get sick, accidents and emergencies happen and hospitals are needed to diagnose, treat and manage different types of diseases. The ambitions and desires of many people cannot be achieved without a longer, healthier and happier life. If you have heart disease or stroke, health insurance can help you. But heart disease or stroke can be very costly. In fact, they are the main causes of medical bankruptcy. Healthcare insurance can help you avoid having to pay high bills and access the care you need to improve your health. Healthcare is very expensive as different factors contribute to the cost of Healthcare.
Different factors define the cost of healthcare. These factors describe why healthcare is expensive. Let’s have a look at these factors
- Defensive medicine
Another big engine of the biggest healthcare bill is defensive medicine. It is a practice of defensive medicine. Doctors fear being sued. They ask for several tests, even if they are certain to know the diagnosis. Everyone pays this bill with the best insurance premiums, joint payments, and non-refundable fees, as well as taxes used to pay for public health programs.
- Wages and rules of work
The second factor that affects healthcare is wages and rules of work. Salaries and staff also increase the cost of medical care. Specialists demand high reimbursements, and excessive reliance on specialists in the current referral decision-making process increases health costs.
- Expensive prescription drugs
You may often feel like you are paying a huge amount of money on the pharmacy. Many countries have appointed government agencies that negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies when they want to market prescription drugs. It allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to set their prices. Pharmaceutical companies have the authority to determine the cost of their drugs making the pharmaceutical industry desirable and making the prescription drugs expensive.
- Costly tests and treatment methods
Health care providers tend to request more expensive tests and the common procedures cost more than others in developed and comparable countries. This could increase the cost of medical care. MRI and C-sections are some examples.
- Higher salaries for specialists, doctors, and nurses
With years of education, training, internships, and housing needed to become a doctor or other health professional in the United States, the high salary seems to match the experience. These practices allow physicians and health centers to protect themselves in the event of legal action while increasing the costs of over-testing and over-treatment.
Most of the other developed countries control part of the costs by making the government plays a bigger role in negotiating medical care prices. Your health systems do not require high administrative costs, leading to higher prices in the United States. As global systems supervisors in their countries, these governments have the ability to negotiate lower costs for medicines, medical equipment, and hospitals. This may affect the combination of treatments used and the ability of patients to consult a specialist or seek more expensive treatments.