{"id":13269,"date":"2019-02-16T13:50:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T21:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gasdetection.com\/?page_id=13269"},"modified":"2021-11-01T13:41:03","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T20:41:03","slug":"whats-behind-the-rise-in-healthcare-costs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gasdetection.com\/interscan-in-the-news\/magazine-articles\/whats-behind-the-rise-in-healthcare-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Behind The Rise In Healthcare Costs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Healthcare<\/p>\n

February 18, 2019<\/p>\n

What’s Behind The Rise In Healthcare Costs?<\/p>\n

By Michael D. Shaw<\/p>\n

According to the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker<\/a>, the U.S. spends a disproportionate amount on healthcare. Health spending per person in the U.S. was $10,224 in 2017, which was 28% higher than Switzerland, the next highest per capita spender.<\/p>\n

U.S. health spending has consistently outpaced economic growth, and now represents 17.9% of our GDP<\/a>. The raw number for 2017 is $3.5 trillion<\/a>. (The per capita number in the link is slightly different from Peterson-Kaiser’s.)<\/p>\n

As to quality, the conventional “US care is mediocre, compared to other countries” mantra is a gross oversimplification. Here is an introduction<\/a> to the topic, and as you can see, there are many parameters to consider. Moreover, we have no control over the quality of data promulgated by other countries\u2014let alone the consistency of reporting within the US.<\/p>\n

Okay, but why is healthcare so expensive? One reason is fraud, estimated at 3% of total healthcare spending<\/a>, in 2011. Another study<\/a> pegged it at closer to 10%. Eighty percent of fraud was committed by medical providers, followed by consumers (10%). The rest was by others, which included insurers themselves and their employees.<\/p>\n

The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association identifies some common types of fraud:<\/p>\n