Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Escalating costs for medical care are blamed on several factors Many people agree that health care costs are out of control. Several people agree on the reasons but fewer agree on the solutions. America’s total health care bill of 1989 is expected to top $542 billion; that’s more than $2,000 for every man, woman and child and nearly double the level 10 years ago. Six basic factors are blamed for escalating medical costs: • Medical inflation, which is about twice the overall inflation rate; Cost shifting; Utilization rates; Changes in technology ; Catastrophic cases; Malpractice. Medical inflation, the biggest fac tor in the trend, is the increase from year to year for health care services. One factor affecting the inflation is an oversupply of hospital beds, forc ing hospitals to spread their overhead costs over a smaller number of patients. A shortage of nurses has added to the inflation rate by putting pressure on hospitals to pay higher salaries. Cost shifting refers to the losses that hospitals take because millions Technology 11.2% Catastrophic Cases 8. Malpractice 1.4% Medical Inflation 32.6% Utilization 16.3% Cost Shifting 29.5% Increases in health costs are represented by various factors in this pie chart. of Americans have little or no health medical technology mean medical insurance, and Medicare payments teams can now save people who by the government do not cover all of the hospital’s costs. As a result, hospitals and doctors shift their losses by increasing charges to people who are well covered under company medical plans, such as that provided to Clinton and EFA employees. Americans are living longer and getting older, which affects how often medical programs are used. Utiliza tion rates are up because the elderly population has grown and coverage includes mental health and substance abuse cases, which might not have been factors years ago. Related to increased use is technology. When people do get sick, they want the most advanced care possible, even if treatment is only available in another city or across the country. Advancements in Hospitals and doctors shift their losses by increasing charges to people who are well covered under company medical plans, such as Clinton’s. «ll# would not have sur vived an illness or in jury some years ago. The cost of technology is expen sive and adds to overall medical costs. Catastrophic cases are few in number but account for a huge portion of medical costs. Medical bills of $500,000 are not uncommon for these cases, which include premature babies that weigh as little as one pound, head trauma victims brought out of comas, and people who have multiple organ transplants. One other cause of rising medical costs, and the one receiving much at tention, is the number of malpractice suits against doctors, Whether or not they have been sued, doctors have seen their malpractice insurance rates skyrocket, so they pass the cost on to patients, who file the insurance claims. Doctors also order more tests than before to protect themselves and to cover all the possibilities. By some estimates, half of every health care dollar now goes to pay for lab tests. Although the factors contributing to higher medical costs are known, the solutions are under debate. Some say American business should implement more aggressive cost containment programs, while others point to the estimated 37 million people who lack health insurance. Still others say America needs a national health care plan to ensure that everyone has ac cess to medical care. While the debate goes on, the costs continue to go up. Insurance co-ordinator Truman Owens reviews a stack of explanation of benefits forms representing over $4 million dollars in claims. Cloth Maker - page 3