While the Affordable Care Act makes important strides in expanding coverage, much more is needed to rein in the rising cost of health care. More than one-sixth of the U.S. economy is devoted to health care spending and that percentage continues to rise every year. Regrettably, our system is not delivering value commensurate with the estimated $2.5 trillion spent annually on health care. Experts agree that an estimated 20 to 30 percent of that spending – up to $800 billion a year – goes to care that is wasteful, redundant, or inefficient.
Rising health care costs punish our nation on multiple fronts. For working families and seniors, the soaring cost of medical care means less money in their pockets and forces hard choices about balancing food, rent, and needed care. For small businesses and Fortune 500 employers alike, they make it more expensive to add new employees, more difficult to maintain retiree coverage, and harder to compete in the global economy. For federal, state, and local governments, rising health care costs lead to higher Medicare and Medicaid costs, and reduced funding on other priorities such as infrastructure, education and public safety.
The net results of rising health care costs are far-reaching and ominous: the fraying of the nation’s safety net, an erosion in our global competitiveness, and long-term fiscal insolvency. If our system could capture even a portion of the estimated 20 to 30 percent spent annually on wasteful or inefficient care, this money would go a long way towards lowering costs and funding needed coverage expansions.
Follow the links below to learn more about rising costs, their impact on health insurance premiums, and what can be done to reduce the rate of growth in health care: