The United States spends the highest percentage of its GDP on healthcare than any other country. But this extremely high expenditure on healthcare is hard to understand.
A study published by the American Medical Association and reported by Daily Mail has broken down the budget into its components and where the money is exactly spent. The results included three sets of categories. The first was chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiac issues which can be prevented by care.
The second finding was the fact that America's annual spending is not constant for all years. Finally, medical expenditure increases with age, the study suggested. Other reports and analysis have predicted that within the next ten years America's spending on health care will increase to 20 percent of its economy.
That's why an in-depth study of the causes and policies related to healthcare problems is important before devising strategic plans to attain better health for all. The expenses for health care differ considerably for different diseases and ages.
Where one disease might require the most money for drugs and pharmaceuticals, another one might spend only a measly fraction of its budget on medicines. Similarly, some age groups encounter more diseases like middle-aged and elderly people than others, creating an imbalance in the spending on all ages.
However, most of the suggestions and policies offered by the studies and surveys conducted do not understand the root of the issue, which is basically the prevention of the diseases. With the general belief held that the majority of the health care budget should be utilized in health insurance, Americans are missing the major point, The Washington Post explains.
The focus should be in preventing the widespread diseases like diabetes and neck and back pain, which takes up much of the budget. By doing this, lesser money will be spent to counter these diseases, which eventually will cut budget down.
