Grizzly Groundswell

What is the cause for the rise in health care?

I have asked the same question for years. Without looking through a Google search and finding experts opinions, let’s ask ourselves why.

The median age of our population:

The baby boomer’s are getting older. It seems reasonable that an aging population would also consume more health care needs. The aged are more prone to cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and consume more pharmaceuticals that would palliate these conditions.

Our litigious society:

We hear on an almost daily basis, about some jury awarding fantastic amounts of money for some kind of lawsuit. We have created a great incentive for litigation. One of the biggest fields in this regard is the medical industry. It seems reasonable to assume that malpractice and litigation expenses to doctors and manufactures of drugs and medical devices also drive up costs and must be a huge factor in raising medical expenses.

This also contributes to over regulation by the FDA, which causes extensive research and development expenses and delays deployment of new drug therapies techniques and mechanisms, which in turn causes us to be more sick than we needed to be, and in turn, be a more expensive patient to treat. I won’t get into the over testing waste done to mitigate any possible litigation.

Picking up the tab for Socialism in other countries:

Most other governments around the world mandate the price of pharmaceuticals and cap the fees medical professionals can charge, leaving both with meager profits. So, in a capitalist market, we are charged more than we should be, to make up for the losses due to socialism around the world.

This also leads to less money for research and development of life saving products and drugs.

Illegal Aliens:

On a daily basis, an unknown number of illegal aliens enter our country from all parts of the world; unchecked for parasites and disease and having no money for health care.

Our collective altruistic response is to not only house them, feed them and employ them, but also take care of their medical needs by passing laws that say emergency rooms must take care of anyone regardless of ability to pay.

We pay a heavy price for illegals, not only socially with increased costs on our school, legal and social services systems, but also in unpaid medical expenses that have shut down hospitals on the souther border states.
Also the re-introduction of medical maladies long thought eradicated from our modern society. Such as increased tuberculosis, e coli breakouts in our food networks and bed bugs.

High Tech Medicine:

Our modern medicine is a combination of the best scientists, engineers and cutting edge high tech firms. We are able to do things this decade that only a few years ago was thought impossible, yet we complain when our insurance bill goes up a few bucks a month.

State and Federal Regulation:

It is almost impossible to capture the scope and depth of one of the largest expenses. Vast amounts of money is spent keeping up with the compliance of both state and federal laws.

Massive banks of lawyers hold down litigation. Research and development is hindered. FDA overview of new drugs, mechanisms and procedures cost countless lives and cost billions in lost revenue.

State and Federal laws mandates tying the hands of insurance companies to react to market forces, costing all of us the ability to purchase cheaper more narrow insurance coverage.

Let’s talk about it: Political Gravitas Forums

Tags: health care

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