Americans Are Uneasy with Our Health Care System
Julie Appleby recently published an article in the USA Today newspaper which seems to indicate that most Americans are not satisfied with the current U.S. health care system. USA Today, ABC News and the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll of 1200 Americans in September of this year. 80% of those polled felt the nation was paying too much for the health care system and only 44% of the respondents were satisfied with the quality of health care in the United States.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation data, the average yearly cost of health insurance was $11,765 this year, with the average employee paying $3,226 of that total. The study claims that average premiums have risen 87% since 2000, while workers' earnings have only risen 20%. The estimate for health care spending in the U.S. is $2.2 trillion, or $7,129 a person, this year.
Ms. Appleby reports that, "(M)ajor drivers of medical inflation include how rapidly Americans embrace new drugs and technology, which are often more expensive than older treatments. Public demand is a big factor. Patients generally want the newest treatment, equating new with "better," even before solid proof exists.
Other factors include rising prices for medical services, particularly hospital prices, growing labor costs and waste and inefficiency. America's obesity epidemic is also fueling spending on medical care."