Controlling Health Care Costs

Controlling Health Care Costs Name: Institution: Date: To The United States Congress. RE: CONTROLLING HEALTH CARE COSTS. The United States health care spending has been on the rise nearing $3 trillion in the year 2012. An analysis funded by the Commonwealth Fund indicates that among 13 industrialized countries (Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, the U.K. and the U.S.) shows that the U.S.has the highest health care expenditure as compared to the other countries. The U.S. health care is being faced by several problems. Firstly, the health care is not accessible to all Americans. The American population is growing and the size of the population that is uninsured is also growing. By 2019, it’s expected that the uninsured population will increase to about 23.2% of the total population. There is also the problem of information asymmetry. People who are unaware of the health insurance rely on the emergency medical services for less serious illnesses and neglect preventive care. This leads to a late detection of illnesses, overcrowding and expensive treatment (Michael & Teisberg, 2006). Due to the high cost of health care and the rising health insurance premiums, most of the Americans are not insured while millions prefer to purchase coverage in form of individual policies (Michael & Teisberg, 2006). United States spends more money per individual on healthcare than most of the other countries yet it appears at the bottom in terms of health indicators. As the work force becomes more and more mobile, there arises a portability problem in health insurance. This is because the health insurance is normally linked with employment. A socialized health care aims at providing health care and financial protection to all the citizens. This type of healthcare is based on three concepts which include the person covered, the services covered and the cost covered. It can be funded through compuls...